chINesE New YEar GAla

After several times and hours of practice, it's finally the day to perform. The final rehearsal started early in the morning at 9. We had to do the final practice with people from Mainland China, because Taiwanese Student Association was holding the festival with Chinese Student Association.

The rehearsal was ok, but the anticipation was the hard part. The day started at 9, but the ceremony begins at 6 in the evening. That's a long time of waiting isn't it?

Just take a look at our dress, in my opinion, it's kind of the combination of Chinese and Vietnamese styles. And allow me to add, it's way too pink.



Well, I had to ask someone to help me putting up make-up. I'm not good at it, and I never was.

Here's the outcome.

Before I tell you how our performance messed up the whole festival (haha...do you think it's possible?), I've got to share the food they offered that night. They sold the tickets for 4 dollars per person, which includes the performance, the culture exhibition vendors and the all-you-can-eat buffet. Although the food was all sponsored by the Chinese restaurants near campus, it was oh-my-good heavenly delicious. Among all, I just couldn't stop eating Fried Rice Sticks after our dancing. It might be a common food in Taiwan, but there's a rare chance to have it here, especially in Terre Haute. If I had the chance to go back home, Fried Rice Sticks is definitely one of the dishes I'm going to try right away.

I'm not bragging this myself, but our dancing was the best performance that evening. Of course it should be, we've been practicing for a long time. The so called joss stick dance was performed without lighting up the joss sticks, because we were told that fire was prohibited in the building. So, we had to think of another way to solve this problem. Eventually, someone came up with the idea of putting glowing sticks in the middle of a bunch of joss stick. And it worked out pretty well. Can't list all the performance that were shown that night, but it was indeed a really unforgettable festival and food.

thE YeaR Of dOG~

I think I haven't updated my blog for a little while.

I've been working on my Social Security Card for my part-time job in the Language Lab, practicing the dance we're going to show on 28th (Sat.) for "Chinese New Year Gala", school assignments and projects, and also, I started to play racquetball this week.

There are so many things going on these days, and I'll post the details one by one from tomorrow.

ELevATe yOUr tHOugHts

In the two elevators of the building that International Affair Center is located, there are always short articles posted. The theme of the articles is "elevate your thoughts". I always find it interesting to read them. Since it takes some time to get to International Affair Center that is on the topest floor of the building--6th floor, I never miss the chance to read the short articles. Sometimes the articles are funny, other times they are usually touching.

Yesterday when I went to International Affair Center, the articles posted this time are also nice as they always are. So I decided to put them down, quote them on my blog and share them with you:

Finish What You Start

By following the simple advice I heard on Dr. Phil show, I have finally found inner peace.

Dr. Phil reclaimed the way to achieve inner peace is to finish all the things you have started. So I looked around my house to see things that I started and hadn't finished; and, before leaving the house this morning I finished off a bottle of Cabernet, a bottle of Chardonnay, a bottle of Bailey, a bottle of Kahlua, a package of Oreos, and a pint of Ben and Jerry's, the remainder of both Prozac and Valium prescriptions, the rest of the Cheesecake, some Saltines and a box of Chocolates.

Bird Flu Symptoms

The center for Disease Control has released a list of symptoms of bird flu. If you experience any of the following, please seek medical treatment immediately:

1. High fever
2. Congestion
3. Nausea
4. Fatigue
5. Aching in the joints
6. An irresistible urge to crap on someone's windshield.

WorKIng ON my SOciAL seCUriTY nuMBer

The snow only lasted for a day, and instead of snowing, it was rather sunny today. Although it was sunny, it was colder than the snowy yesterday. What is it with the weather in Terre Haute?

Regardless of the weird weather today, I spent some time to get myself my Social Security Number (SSN) which is required to work on campus. I used to have one when I came to the State at the age of three. I was wondering if I should apply for a new one or figure out a way to get the old one I used to have. I asked people about this, and they said that once you have your SSN, it lasts forever. So, I decided to regain the old one.

Since I lost the passport I used to have when I was little, I came up with two ways to get my SSN. I can either call the elementary schools I studied, hopefully they still have their students' personal information that had studied 16 years ago; or, I can go and ask the Social Security Administration near campus, hopefully they kept track of my SSN which was issued at the time when Internet and computers are not so popular. The second way seems to be a little bit more difficult, and I was ready to call my elementary school. However, I was suggested that I should walk to the Social Security Administration that is only 10-15 minutes away from campus and just give it a shot. I thought it might be good to take a walk around campus, so I went there.

Luckily, the lady working there found my SSN. But the name I was given 16 years ago is different from the one I'm using on my passport, and that made everything slightly more complicated. What a crisis! I had to do more paperworks to show that both of those names belongs to me.

Running back and forth from Social Security Administration, International Affair Center and Student Employment Programs located in Career Center, I hope I can my Social Security Card eventually.

heAVy sNOw!

After long anticipation, it finally snowed today. But I didn't like it when it snows after raining, because the roads always become squishy. When the roads become squishy, it's really disgusting to walk on the roads.

I wonder how it's like to drive in snowy days. Haven't gotten the chance to do so. People say that the roads become fairly slippery in those days, some like to drive when it's snowing while others hated to go out by car during snowy days. I'd like to try one day.

MarTIn lUTheR KinG, Jr. dAY

We had a day off today, because it's Martin Luther King Jr. Day. I feel like I'm still having my winter vacation. But instead of sleeping all day, I think I did something this afternoon.

Chinese New Year is just around the corner, and I think it's coming earlier this year. The Taiwanese Student Association prepared an event on Jan. 28th at 6 in the afternoon. They sell tickets to the public that would like to come to the festival, and it's 4 USD for each ticket. They would prepare food, kind of like buffet because it's around dinner time. According to the president of the TSA, the tickets are usually sold out in a very short time. I took part in the festival, and I'm going to be one of the dancers. They "created" a Chinese-like dance which they call the "Joss Stick Dance". We had to hold on to a bunch of joss stick, and do this really elegant dance. The music is soft, but I'm not quite sure about the dress that we're going to wear on that night. One of the Taiwanese video-taped our practice today, and she gave us the website for it. The music is recorded in it, too. Click here to watch the clip.

You might find me making a big mistake. Haha... I know I'm clumsy when I dance.

TArgET prACtiCE daY

Remember the family that I went to on Christmas Eve, and all the weapons they showed me? We talked about going shooting some other day. And today, it was the other day for shooting. I had to wake up 9:30 in the morning, which I haven't done for a while during winter vacation, but the bonous was to have McDonalds for breakfast. I went to a shooting gallery in Terre Haute with them. It's actually far away from the downtown of Terre Haute. It's located in a valley, and it was freezing cold.

At first we spent most of the time practicing shooting what they call the clay pigions. It's actually a kind of round target that is made with clay. They have this self-service equipment that you may put the clay pigeon on it, and when your partners are ready to shoot, simply pull the yellow string that's attatch to the end of it and the clay pigeon will be projected into the air at once.

Although it's only practicing, the guns and bullets are for real. It's just that they usually buy the cheapest bullet that they can find for shooting practices. We had to put on earmuffs to protect our ears from the loud noise made at the moment when you fire the guns. I was already worried about the recoil that would come after firing the gun when I was displayed the weapon collections on Christmas Eve, so when I was given the chance to shoot the clay pigeons, I was ectremely nervous. I didn't dare to pull the triger for the first time. But I really wanted to "give it a shot", so I just forced myself to pull the triger. And it turned out to be exciting and fun!

But don't you worry about my safty. Everyone there was awfully careful about others' safty. You always have to keep in mind wheather there's bullets left in your gun. Even if you can't fire anything out of it, it can still be armed.

It was a really fun day. I feel like experiencing a different kind of culture, which I might never experience back in Taiwan.

mY FaVOraTE snACk

Today, I took the pictures of my favorite snacks I found in the States.

The No.1 Best snack I found is called "Fundge Round". It only cost you a quater, and it is not way too sweet like any other 'normal snacks' they have in the States. Usually the food they have are either way too sweet or too salty. But this particular snack is just perfect and above all, it's only 25 cents. It tastes somewhat like brownie, but it has some sweet creamy stuffing in the middle.


This is the other snack that became one of my favorites two days ago. It's 10 cents more than the previous one, but it's worthwhile. It's a little bigger than Fudge Round, and it has this sweet honey taste that is just about right. There's another kind of Honey Bun that is exactly the same as Honey Bun except that it's iced. But the iced ones cost 10 more cents than Honey Bun. I think I don't need so much sugar, and I definitely don't want to spend my money buying those kinds of unhealthy food.

These two snacks can be bought in convinient stores and the local store we have in the student union on campus. Sometimes I just can't help taking one or two of them with me to the cashier when I pass by the store. And that's what I do recently when I need quaters for my lundry or whenever I need changes.

oH, My gOOdnESs!!

Astonishing! AJ is pregnant! She has Brad Pitt's baby. What a great head-line. Although they never admitted that they were together, it's said that they are going to have their own baby this summer.

Angelina Jolie is my favorite actress. I've been loving her since the day I saw her movie "Girl, Interrupted". Even she has this rumor with Brad Pitt going on all around the world, she's still my favorite actress. I feel really happy when I knew this news, although she is none of my family members, I can't help imagining how perfect their baby's going to look like. Combination of AJ and Brad Pitt, their baby is going to have the most beautiful appearance in the whole wide world.

If you are interested in the news report, you may click on the Video Clip and check what was going on between them.

WOrkINg pARt-tIMe aLReaDY!!

To my surprise, Language Lab opened today. They said it was open because some of the students asked to use the room. Since I have my hours everyday, I had to start working today right after class.

I think the pay is pretty nice. 5.15 USD an hour, and it has a quiet environment. Sometimes there would be classes held in that room, if it happens to be the time I'm working, I get to audit the class. I just had a French class today. Isn't it neat?! I could barely understand anything, but it's interesting to be exposed to other languages that you don't understand. I might possibly be able to speak a bit French after this semester. I think I like this job.

Mac computers doesn't have button on it, but you can turn it on with its touch-sensataive surface.

hUNtiNG foR A paRT-tiME joB

I'm taking 9 credits this semester, 3 credits less than last semester. I was thinking of working part-time at the Langauage Lab in our department. I talked to the person who's in charge and the schedule for each person's shift was settled down today. Language Lab is closed this week, and will be open from next Monday. In other words, hopefully, I'll be working from next week. 13 hours a week, and I'll be there everyday. Still have some paperwork to do though.

I'm sure it's a very nice job. At least it's a quiet environment... most of the time. But I don't know the pay for it yet. I think I'll figure that out tomorrow.

It feels great to have a job to work on.

naTIonAL trEAsuRE

Today, I don't know why, but somehow I recalled this movie I saw on Christmas Eve last year (wow... LAST year already). I think I forgot to mention this part because I got too excited when I was writing all the different kinds of weapons I saw that day on my blog.

It was a really nice movie we saw after the dinner and after this fairly interesting introduction to the host's collection of his hunting tools. Cast by Nicolas Cage and others who I'm not so familiar with, the plot was exciting all the time. It was so exciting that it made me talkative when we were watching the movie. I don't usually do that when I'm watching a movie. People supposed to be quiet for other people's sake when they are watching movie. When I was conscious that I got to noisy, I had to remind myself to try not to talk so much. The movie was that exciting! It's not the latest one, but you have got to watch it.

Well, of course it would be better if you can rent a DVD and watch it on a super big screen. That was what we did, a super huge TV, and the quality was good, too.

In conclusion, if you want to watch something and you don't have any idea yet, start with National Treasure. It's definitely a nice choice.

TOo mANy oF Us

Today is the first day of class. Yep, classes have begun. In other words, it's the end of winter vacation.

I had my first and only class today at 4 in the afternoon, and we had this chance to meet the new coming students that were admitted to the Spring semester. To my surprise, 3 out of 5 are from Taiwan. 3 people! Oh, man, that's a lot! And that made our Taiwanese group grew even bigger than ever. When they were doing the self-introduction, I suddenly had this feeling of going back to Taiwan. Maybe I just wanted to reduce the number of Taiwanese, so I somehow started from myself. Think about this, you've paid a great fortune, and you've traveled 24 hours, almost a day, all the way across the globe to another different country that speaks different kind of language and has different kind of culture other than yours. You want yourself to be exposed to the culture, and looking forward to experiencing their lives. However, it turned out that there is a large percentage of people who came from the place exactly as yours. It's not that I'm not welcoming them to come or I dislike my fellow countrymen, it's just that I was expecting to have something different here. I didn't choose a really extraordinary famous or outstanding university, so I'm wondering why did we all ended up to study here?

laST daY Of wORkiNG ouT At lECluB For FRee

Tomorrow will be the last day of my winter vacation, so today was the last day I'm going to LeClub for free because of using my classmate's student ID number to get in. It was delightful to work out at a gym actually. I wasn't quite used to be doing this in front of other people, but I'm kind of used to it now. I might consider to pay for a semester to work out here, or I'll just go to swim and have my skin painfully dry after swimming.

After a couple of times of working out at LeClub, interrupted because of the trip from New Year's Eve, I think I exercised my muscle in some parts of my body; unfortunately, I didn't obviously loss much weight. It's always difficult in the beginning. So, I think I'll have to try my best to eat healthy and eat less for the following few months. In other words, I'll have to be picky on what to eat, and I'll have to consider more about the amount for each meal. Those are both hard for me when dining in the cafeteria, where is known to be "all you can eat". Everytime I think of the money paid for the meal plan, I just couldn't help to eat more. It's kind of silly though. So, for my own sake, I'll try me best to keep myself in the best condition starting from my diet.

hAPpy NEw yEAr tO EveRYonE

Good for me, I went to LeClub to work out today. It's been a long while since the last time I went exercising. Sorry for keeping you waiting for so long, I've been a little bit lazy these days, trying to take rest as much as I can, sleep through the last days of winter vacation. The reason? Because I might not be so carefree and casual all the time like I am now.

Talking about the trip I had few days ago in Chicago, it turned out that the hotel did not have Internet to serf. 5 dollars more expensive than the last one I stayed, I realized that, yep, I'm in a big city indeed, everything's more expensive here. The car that was rented for this trip was, hum, not as expected.

The car rented for this trip.

It cost 211 USD for three days including full insurance. It was the smallest and cheapest car they could offer. It had auto lights and cruise control, by which you can set up the speed you want and it would keep the speed all the time as you wanted unless you step on the break or switch off the cruise function. Pretty neat, huh? I don't think we have this function in Taiwan. It's a small island, plus we don't have roads or highways that were totally straight for 70 or 80 miles like the States. It's really boring to drive on such straight and plain roads. People can easily fall asleep and drive stray away into the fields, kept on driving until they hit something or until they wake up and realize that they are strayed from the road they should be staying on. I think I should think of something refreshing to do on the car while I'm driving to keep myself awake. So far I can only chew mint gums, and the effect that comes after it doesn't last really long.

The first stop of the first day, which was on Friday Dec. 30, was Purdue University at West Lafayette in Indiana. It was freezing that day there, and all the buildings were shut down during winter break, so there were no way to walk into the buildings and visit. Therefore, after some walk, it's considered to be enough time to visit this fairly nice, beautiful and famous university.

Fazoli's pasta was for lunch. They are famous for their pasta and spaghetti. Well, honestly, I'm not quite sure if they are really famous or specialized in making pasta and spaghetti, that were what they have on their menus. It was too late to take a picture because the digital camera was forgotten and left on the car. No one wanted to go outside and pick it up, of course, due to great hunger after walk. In total, the main dish was great in quantity, extra points for the unlimited refilling drinks and delicious bread, and among all, the Cesar salad was unforgettably fresh. By the way, I found out that we also have one Fazoli's in Terre Haute when I got back from the trip. Pretty nice to know.

After lunch, the next stop would be Chicago Premium Outlet. It's a pretty big outlet, but unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures there. It was raining before arrival, but it started to snow when I was doing my shopping. I think I focused too much upon shopping that I just didn't remember to take pictures there. I think it's OK, I'll go there some other day in the future. It's worth going. Everything's guaranteed to be cheaper than other shops or malls, of course, because it's an outlet. I spent some money at Calvin Klein, I also bought a T-shirt that was on sale and a mini skirt. Don't really like the American style of clothes. Instead, I'm more used to Korean, Japanese and Taiwanese designed clothes and shoes. And that's good, because it's hard to find Asian things whatever it is. As a result, I get to save my money for other more important things. Dinner was bought in the food court in the outlet. Nothing special, just regular Chinese food.

Shopping continued until the time that the outlet was going to close, the hotel I booked online was the destination for the first day. Finally I could say "let's call it a day".

The second day was the most important day of this trip. It was New Year's Eve, and that was what this trip was planned for in the first place. Sight-seeing and shopping would be focused during the daytime, and the 2006 New Year's countdown would be the only thing planned for at the end of this day, which was also the end of the splendid year of 2005.

Waking up around noon, it was time to have dinner. It took about 30 minutes to drive to central Chicago. Navy Pier would be the place for the New Year countdown, so it was the first place to go. The car was parked at Navy Pier, and it cost 22 dollars each time for parking. Lunch was decided to be easily and might not be so finely settled down at Navy Pier. Mainly because dinner supposed to be more important, since there might be hours to wait until the countdown. Having lunch at Navy Pier, the food court was so crowded that a seat for having lunch could barely be found. But it was nice that Navy Pier offers toll-free rides to downtown.

The main street of Chicago, Michigan Avenue.

People were skating with their own skater at Millennium Park Ice Rink. I didn't have one of my own, so I didn't do it.

This reminds me of the 7-11 we have in Taiwan. I really missed it. No 7-11s at Terra Haute or Indianapolis. What a crisis!

The Marshall Field's State Street.

Going to the highest skyscraper in the States, Sears Tower Skydeck, was definitely one of the attractions you must stop by. It has 102 floors, which I'm not quite sure if it beat Taipei 101. If you put emphasis on the number of storeys they have, Sears Tower would win over Taipei 101. But, Taipei 101 was built after Sears Tower and it was claimed to be the highest building in the world, at least two years ago. And it makes Taipei 101 higher than Sears Tower. Anyway, no matter which is higher, the scenery of Chicago's downtown at night was beautiful. Well, it has to be, because I paid 11.95 USD including tax to go up to the top of the tower.

Look what I've found on the way for dinner. Where's the rest of the bike?

Dinner was chosen to be dined in at a Thai restaurant, Star of Siam, which was voted to be "the No.1 Thai restaurant my Chicago food critics for several consecutive years". The food was pretty much the same as we had in Taiwan, and the workers in the restaurant all spoke in Thai. Gosh I missed Thai food. Each dish cost 6.5 USD on average.

A classical Thai dish--Thai Fried Rice Noodle.

Green Curry Beef with not-necessary-green beans in it.

I give the dinner a two-thumbs up. Gotta go and try other dishes next time I visit Chicago. Such a nice dinner prepared me for the energy I needed for waiting the coming of 2006. The fireworks for the New Year lasted 15 minutes. It was really worthwhile for the long and freezing cold anticipation.

Obviously not the nice timing for the shot.

This should be more suitable to be my background.

Countdown and watching the firework were the last things for that day, also the first thing I did to start a whole new year.

For the third day, I had food and drink and went to places that made me miss Taiwan. A big Japanese Market was the first place to go that day for lunch. There were so many nice choices like Japanese food, Chinese food and Korean food. I had O Nigiri Sushi and Fried Shrimp on top of a small bowl of Ramen. After lunch, it was time to shop at the Japanese market. They had all kinds of Japanese stuffs and food there, but they were all pretty expensive. 5 little bottles of Yakult in a pack cost 2.99!! What a great fortune. However, due to the long desire of Yakult and the impossibility of having it in Terre Haute, the money must be spent.

The next place to go was IKEA. It was near the Japanese market and it looked exactly like the ones we have in Taiwan. When I was shopping in IKEA, I had this illusion that I'm back in Taiwan. What a nice place!

Well, the journey ended up at IHOP in Terre Haute at 10 in the evening, it was for dinner. Nice to be back here. I was completely worn out because of the trip.