ORANGE

Lotsa little things happened this week.

On Tuesday, my stomach felt a little weird so I SMSed my cooperating teacher at Murchison Middle School to say I wasn't coming for my observation. She replied me four hours later: "Watch the news tonight and see what you missed." Turns out a teacher had heard a ticking sound coming from one of the lockers and the entire school was evacuated during the time I was supposed to be there. Nothing dangerous was found. But I guess you can't ever be too cautious.

I've been looking for Alexander McCall Smith's new book "The Careful Use of Compliments" (book 4 of his Isabel Dalhousie series, of which I am a big fan) ever since it was published on August 7. I didn't want to buy it, so I decided to ask the UT Library to order it. And the chief bibliographer said yes! It'll appear on our library shelves in a week or so. Yay :)

On Tuesday, I went to a bathroom in school before my evening class and discovered that the cubicle walls were covered with a very heated discussion on the war on Iraq. Girls were expressing their unhappiness towards Bush, and talking about how hard it was to have brothers and boyfriends fighting so far away. It was cool because it was an actual conversation, with girls responding to other girls' comments, instead of just a bunch of unrelated rants. And none of these girls knew who the others were. Just like a virtual forum, but on a bathroom wall. I'll take a picture of it soon but there's a lot of swearing going on so I might not put it up.

My kickboxing instructor got a new CD so instead of her previous Justin Timberlake techno mix, we are now kickin' to the sounds of Timbaland's The Way I Are. I'm sure Munyuk would approve :)

On Wednesday night there was a blackout in our area. Again! This time everyone got really mad. A lot of people got out on the balcony and started vehemently cursing Austin Energy. Haha. The guy above us was shouting, "I've got homework to do!!!" The guys below us got a guitar out and started singing a really off-key version of Howie Day's "Collide". After 45 minutes the lights came back on. After half an hour they went out again. GRRR. The 4 of us are gonna start looking for a new apartment in Spring. Oh, check out this ridiculous ad for our apartment I found in the school paper. What on earth is the blond girl wearing? I'm just not feeling the luxury:

Yesterday Kirsten, Chris and I went to Java Gardens, an Indonesian restaurant which garnered a pretty good review in the Austin Chronicle. We had beef rendang (a bit too salty) and deep-fried shrimp in butter sauce (lovely!) with rice. Was very filling. I miss the amazing Indonesian food I had in Prigen and Bali over summer.

Here are some pictures of last Saturday's football game against Rice. Very orange, very high energy. Felt proud to be a Longhorn.

Bye for now :)

PINK

Look what arrived in the mail yesterday! A Victoria's Secret bathrobe from my dear cousin in Toronto. Thanks Chels!

What Can I Say?

Just returned from watching Brandi Carlile live at UT with Beeba. It was the most amazing concert I've ever been to! While I'm still on a post-show high, let me put up some pictures.

The evening kicked off with A Fine Frenzy as the opening act. That's the stage name of Alison Sudol, who has a wonderfully rich voice and wonderfully red hair. Check out her "Almost Lover" video.

After about an hour, A Fine Frenzy exited the stage and we waited for about 15 minutes in the packed ballroom, amid other rowdy concert-goers, some of whom reeked of beer (there was a bar, but we were underage). After a sound check that seemed to last forever, Miss Carlile herself exploded onstage with her band. The crowd went crazy.

She had a pair of cute bald Lex-Luthor-lookalike twins as her backup singers/guitar players. They were great!

Though one of them tried to eat the mike :)

It was a such a great time. They played for two solid hours, and though my patent leather black peep-toes from Far East were killing me, I have no complaints about standing throughout. She did old songs, new songs, a totally acoustic number (no mike, even!), an awesome Johnny Cash cover... going from crazy rock chick to mellow coffeehouse crooner in a split second. Her voice is so unique - she can growl or scream or hum or do that funny yodeling thing that Shakira does all within one song, and it sounds SO GOOD. Ahhh. And there was this one song where she divided the audience into 3 sections and had us harmonize with her and her cutebaldguys. It sounded wonderful. After the song she threw her pick into the crowd and Beeba caught it! Well actually she cleverly hid it under her shoe till the guy behind us stopped looking for it HAHA. It's cute and green.
More pics below. I think she looks a bit like Lindsay Lohan and Keira Knightley, though she's nowhere near as girly.

The best part hands-down was the encore, where she did my favorite, "What Can I Say" and ended with a gorgeous version of "Hallelujah." 30 seconds was all my camera would allow me to record, but I guess that's enough. You can check it out below. Hear more of her great songs here and here.

My House, The Hair Salon

Just some photos of our resident hairstylist, JFoo, cutting my roomie Beeba's hair last Friday night, and turning her into a fabulous Indian Farrah Fawcett. Okay so I didn't take before and after pictures... I'll get them soon.

Pammy also dropped by that night to make me one of her famous fried egg sandwiches... doesn't she look lovely with a spatula!

And these roomie pics were taken last Monday or Tuesday night during a 1.5 hour long blackout in many parts of West Campus. Once the lights went out, after an initial period of loud whining, we did what all girls do: finished up the ice-cream in our fridge, sat around, took pictures and talked about boys.

L-R: Sobeyda, Beeba's beguiling eyes, me, Daphne

Frankly, my dear, I don't give a...

I'm trying to finish about 800 pages of Gone with the Wind by Friday for my "Civil War in Fiction, Fact and Film" class. It's a lovely epic novel, but it's been a while since I read such a long book. I bought the book for $12 at my school bookshop, then found a copy online for a dollar, so I returned the first one and bought that. Unfortunately (or not) the cover of the cheaper version looks like one from a really trashy novel, just like the poster above, with huge embossed letters. I'll have to rent the movie soon. It's FOUR HOURS LONG.

I went to my first kickboxing class today. It was great! It makes you feel so strong. Even though I probably looked goofy and uncoordinated, I totally felt like I could kick anybody's butt for that half an hour. I love the defensive pose, as Hilary Swank will show you:

Except I don't wear gloves. Anyway. I have a Texercise pass now, which means I can get into all the fitness/wellness classes. I've only ever been to Cardio Combo (which is 1/2 Step exercises, 1/4 kickboxing and 1/4 abs). I want to try out Power Pilates, Ab Lab, Full Body Sculpt Express, Aqua Aerobics and all these other classes with slightly cheesy names. Hopefully I can fit in one class a day. I'm waging a war on flab!!!

This weekend was pretty fun... We had our first Singaporean Student Association lunch at Buca di Beppo, an Italian restaurant (I think I mentioned it in this space before). It's funny how we always end up talking about food or restaurants, even while we're eating. Must be a Singaporean thing. For one of my classes, my professor told us we'd get one point if we posted up our favorite Austin restaurant on the class website forum. So now we all have a list of about nearly 100 places to choose from :) I had dinner on Saturday with Jill, an American who lived in Singapore for 5 years, at a great Indian place called Bombay Bistro. It was great talking to her about home. We had tons of naan and I ordered this chicken-breast-stuffed with-spinach-and-coated-with-orange-spices thing, which was so huge I only ate 1/3 of it. The remainder served as yesterday's dinner and today's lunch. Mmmm.

School is running along okay, and soon I'll be tutoring disadvantaged kids under an Austin public library program, and teaching and observing 8th grade English classes at Murchison Middle School. These activities count toward a teaching certificate. Should be interesting. I'll blog about it as I go.

Let me leave you with some (pretty underwhelming, I'd say) pictures of Austin:

The Tower, our pride and joy

My favorite trees on campus

Lovely grasspatch cum study area near the Liberal Arts buildings

Don't know what this building's called, but I love the railings and creepy lamp-things

Guadalupe Street, running along the edge of campus. Shops (L-R): c.jane - a dress boutique; Which Wich - great sandwich place; Pita Pit - excellent pitas; some bank or other; Intellectual Property (building with murals) - bookstore

For randomness' sake, here's a picture of my beautiful s!bBiEzZZzz*~ (minus Ky) whom I miss dearly!

And with that, I end this super-long post. Thanks for sticking with me!

Earthly Possessions

More outdoor pictures to come soon.

Tubing

Yesterday afternoon, after church, a bunch of us drove to New Braunfels (a town an hour away from Austin) and did this. I didn't bring my camera 'cuz I didn't want it to fall in the water, so I don't have any pictures. But it was a highly relaxing and enjoyable time. We basically floated and horsed around in the Comal River for 2 hours, with a little river ride thrown in somewhere in the middle. Kinda like the "Eye of the Storm" ride at Singapore's short-lived Fantasy Island. It was cool because we floated by all sorts of rented chalets and bungalows where people were having parties and barbecues. Really worked up an appetite. At the end, we were all herded, like dripping wet cattle, into a truck and driven back to our cars.

Today is Labor day and I'm catching up on my reading.

Ratatouille

Funny, smart and absolutely breathtaking. Watching this movie made me wanna visit Paris, and get an internship at Pixar. See it now!

Ready to Roll

Ahhh finally feel like blogging.. after almost a week since I touched down on Austin soil. Many thanks to those who sent me off at the airport. My flight was pretty okay, except that at Minneapolis, immigration+ baggageclaim+ baggagecheckin+ securitycheck took soo long, that even after sprinting across half the airport to get to my connecting flight to Austin, I missed it by 7 minutes. But that happens I guess. I got another flight which was 4 hours later. Kim picked me up and it was great to see her again.

My first few days in Austin were quiet. None of my roommates were back yet. It was quite a shock compared to the constant noise and chatter I'd been used to in Singapore. I missed Mom's sporadic bursts into song and Kyle blasting his emo Indo music. Felt so... displaced. I'm sure that's totally normal, but when I realized I couldn't sleep, I got even more anxious. Most people know that if there's one thing I can do well, it's sleeping. Even THAT was taken away from me! So with nothing else to do in the wee hours of the morning, I started praying for anything I could think of. Really loudly. I prayed for God's presence to come and fill my house so I wouldn't feel alone. I prayed for people back home, myself and my year ahead. And, wow, I could really feel the change in me. God was right there with me. I read the Bible and the words were just popping off the page like never before. It was an amazing and encouraging time with Him that I wouldn't trade for anything. It was cool to be awake to see the light of dawn stream in through my blinds every day. I call it my 'Orientation' for the new school year, because it really helped me get mentally and emotionally prepared for school again. So I say thank God for jet lag!

I wasn't at home all day for five days praying (though that isn't such a bad idea at some point in one's life, right?). I visited old haunts like Mozart's with Kim, Dre and the cell group. Went to watch Hairspray with Kim, which was hilarious and made us want to bring back '60s frocks and the Beehive. Attended Hill Country Bible Church's 7pm service, where the music was so loud there were earplugs at the door. Helped Becks move into her co-op - a student-run residence where you share work duties. Caught up with the rest of the Singaporeans at the Alligator Grill.
I miss Singapore a ton, but it feels good to be back in Austin.

Today was the start of work and school. I got assigned to different rooms for work, and I like these ones more. So that's great. I was totally in GOOD MORNING BALTIMORE!!! mode this morning (sorry, Hairspray reference). So excited to start classes. Such a nerd. My professors seem great, and my courses are interesting and challenging. I teach six 30-minute lessons this semester at a middle school, in addition to 14 hours of observation. That's the biggest challenge, I think. It's going to be hectic, but I'm up for it. I'm gonna remember all that Uncle Wu told me about pushing myself and studying like mad, and just dive right in. And I pray I stay close to God thoughout, because "apart from Him I have no good thing".

I miss you all in Singapore, and thank you for making my summer so beautiful. Will keep you posted!

In the Computer Lab..

.. and I'm having a sudden craving for moussaka. That Greek dish which "traditionally consists of layers of ground (minced) lamb, sliced eggplant, and tomato, topped with a white sauce and baked." (Thanks Wikipedia- I don't know how I'd survive college without you.) I had it at the Athenian grill a few weeks ago and it was sooo goood. Must learn how to make it. Oh wait, I can't cook for nuts. But I AM planning to learn from the best (Grandma and PoPo) when I get back so watch out, world.

I'm in between memorizing 40 lines of Paradise Lost for my Milton final. It is a really good epic poem, but in this edition the guy doesn't indicate which parts of the text have footnotes, so there are basically a bunch of annotations at the bottom and you have to check every once in a while to see if what you're reading has been footnoted (is there such a word?) So my eyes are constantly darting from the top to the bottom of the page all the time and it becomes frustrating.

Spiderman 3 was a disappointment, and I've figured out why: too many villains (none of whom were nearly as compelling as Doc Ock), too little of that cranky editor guy, the girls had great hair colors but were wimpy, and the new Green Goblin looked juvenile on his flying skateboard. Let's hope the last installation of Pirates (with Chow Yun Fatt as a Singaporean pirate) will be more exciting...

Ahhh... there's about 8 days between me and Singapore! Happiness. This may be my last blog in Austin, because 72 (number of posts so far) is a nice number and a multiple of 12. I am gonna miss the squirrels here though. They provide great on-the-way-to-school entertainment.

Gonna leave you with a picture of the movie I'm most excited about right now, Pixar's Ratatouille:

The Chipmunks - Girls Of Rock and Roll

girls girls girls

Absolutely Batty

A slightly amusing email I received today. Was tempted to laugh out loud, but I'm guessing it posed enough of a health risk to warrant an email to the whole university... hope no one gets sick.

If you or someone you know touched a bat near the south end of Bellmont (off of San Jacinto St., across from the Alumni Center) on Monday, April 23, 2007, Environmental Health & Safety needs to talk to you. Please call Environmental Health & Safety, 471-5776 / 471-3511 or call the City of Austin Health and Human Services Department, 512-972-5590, and report that you touched a bat. Thank You.

Carin Peterson
Safety Specialist | Environmental Health & Safety
University of Texas at Austin

FYI, Austin's Congress Avenue Bridge is the home to the largest urban bat colony in North America. And their flight out from under the bridge has become a must-see tourist attraction. I haven't seen them yet, but I heard it looks like that great scene from Batman Begins where the adult Bruce Wayne is in the cave and slowly conquering his phobia as the bats swirl around him.

3 More Weeks To...

No captions needed, I'm sure. I must admit - these were taken off UK's The Daily Telegraph's website (no self-respecting Singaporean would eat char kway teow in such small portions) but I decided to post them since they were so beautiful. Sigh. Now it's back to enduring 22 more days of Tex-Mex.