Edmonton Adventure Continued!

Adventure #4: Alberta Aviation Museum + Legislature Grounds

Along with Farah, my adventure buddy, we set off for the Aviation museum around 12.40pm on Monday, and we got lost. Well we didn't actually get lost, but we didn't get off at the right stop, because I had thought there would be another transit, but there wasn't. So we took about a 20 minute ride further away from our stop, and a 20 minute ride back to where we were supposed to get off. Then another 15 minutes to actually walk and get to the museum. And it didn't seem worth it. Just a bunch of war planes, which I guess was kept in good condition, but that was about it. Took a load of photos and that seemed all there was to it. Well, at least I can say I've been there now.

Then we decided to drop by the Legislature around 5pm and see all the beautiful decorations. The lights were set up well and because it gets dark early now, it was a good time to stop by. We also saw people entering the building but there was pretty tight security to get in, and we weren't that bothered to go through all that to find out what was happening.

 

 

Adventure #5: Muttart Conservatory

This was a great adventure. And we didn't get lost on the way (though we almost missed our stop again). Not as far as the aviation museum was, but we still had to walk a little while to get there. It was good though, because the weather wasn't so cold and there is beauty in nature. There are four pyramids and each pyramid hosts different plants from different climates. Being from a tropical country myself, I can say that the tropical pyramid definitely felt like home. It was also really cool to see all types of plants and flowers, and it was really pretty.

 

Adventure #6: Canadian Christmas Dinner

Having no plans on Christmas day, I was gratefully surprised when a teacher I didn't even know invited some of us to her house for a Christmas dinner. She was my RA's teacher and I hadn't even met her before. I went with three others, one was another one of her students, but the rest of us weren't. This is kindness you can only find in Canada people. Well maybe not, but it's rare elsewhere. Knowing that there were some students who were staying back on campus during Christmas and deciding to give us a meal and share the joy with us, that is what Christmas is about ladies and gentlemen. It was fun and though a bit nervous and awkward at times, the night was a success. The food was delicious and we had some good laughs.



Adventure #6.5: Boxing Day

My first experience of boxing day, and though I was not that crazy to go to the stores at 7 in the morning, I went nonetheless. And I kind of get what the fuss is all about. Stores have major discounts, and though I went to a lot of stores and stayed at the outlets for about 2.5 hours, I only bought two items from the same store. I got a good deal on a very good jacket that I simply love. And I'm trying not to spend so much, but since then I've shopped twice. Once on Sunday and again today. New Years Resolution? I'm not going to spend money on clothes anymore until the summer, when my parents come visit.

 

Happy New Year! May 2015 be even better! 

 

 

 

Edmonton Adventure!

I started my Winter break a week earlier than most people. The last of my finals was on the 12th of December, and unlike most people, I had no travel plans. Home was too far away for such a short break, and I didn't really feel like going anywhere. Then, I figured that I might as well visit the places of the city I'm in! I'm always hearing that Edmonton is "Deadmonton" with nothing going on, but that's not true. I found a site that tells of various activities and events around the city, and my goal for the duration of my break is to go to as many of these places as possible.

Adventure #1: Edmonton River Valley Zoo

I started last Sunday, two days after my last final. I went to the zoo with a friend and luckily I met another friend who had three in his group because we had to walk part of the way to the zoo along an isolated path in the dark. My flash makes it seem really creepy, but it was just dark.
The reason we went at night was because the zoo had this festival of lights thing going on, so obviously we had to go when it was dark in order to see the lights. But it wasn't very impressive and I was hoping to see more animals - especially the red pandas but they were hiding inside. =[

Adventure #2: Art Gallery of Alberta

 On Wednesday, I decided to go for a little cultural learning and went to the art gallery downtown. It was really interesting and the art on display was certainly worth a look or two. I've never been one to enjoy art that much before, but since taking a basic art course my eyes have been opened to the world of art.

Adventure #3: Capitol Theatre

There's a small theatre in Fort Edmonton Park and conveniently, the way to get there was to stop at the same place I got off to get to the zoo. But I didn't have to cross the river to get there, and I went during the daytime with a friend. The show we went to watch was called It's a Wonderful Life: Radio Show, it wasn't the traditional theatre with acting, but more of voice acting. Though the actors and actresses were in front of us, it was done so that it gave the pretence of a radio show. They were reading from scripts and when they weren't speaking they sat on the couch behind the microphones. It's a pretty small stage but they manoeuvred it well and they had sound effects that was made manually. That was cool to watch, and the synchronization was impeccable. (On the left of the picture above, you can see a table with bottles and glasses, that area was where they made all the sounds from.)

Fort Edmonton Park itself seems pretty small and doesn't seem to have much. It did look like the buildings themselves were two-dimensional and felt like a set of a movie or something. Maybe because it was winter break and nothing was open that gave off that feeling. People say it's a bustling place in the spring and summer. I shall be back then!



I'm not going to count this as an adventure, but more of an outing. I went to Chinatown today with two friends to eat Dim Sum! A traditional Sunday brunch type of meal for Chinese people - though now any day of the week works fine for us. And as always when I have dim sum, I ate way too much. The thing is, you don't feel full until the end and you realize you still have lots of food on the table. Anyway it was worth it! Haven't had dim sum since I got back from home, and the food was good.

However, we had a bit of drama added to our meal. There was this drunk guy at the table next to ours who at first kept staring at my friend, so I offered to change seats with her. We didn't realize he was drunk then but after awhile, when the manager refused to get him another beer he started making a fuss. I don't know why they didn't get rid of him sooner, because he came over to our table twice and started talking nonsense. This is why you don't go to Chinatown at night people. Daytime is already scary and dangerous enough. I was hoping they would give us the meal for free, or at least a discount for having our lunch disturbed, but we weren't so lucky.

Two more weeks of adventures to go! I may post again next week, lots of stuff planned! Oh, and if you're interested in the site I get the events and stuff from, here it is: http://exploreedmonton.com/

Have a Merry Christmas!

KidSport UofA After School Program

 

There's a KidSport club at the University I'm in, and if you don't know about KidSport, its an organization that aims to let children of whatever background have access to sports resources. My University club recently established a trial run for an after school sports program to be held at an elementary school every Friday. The first session was two weeks ago on the 14th, and I was part of that group. We had about 8 volunteers, which fit perfectly to a 1:1 ratio of children who showed up. It had been a half school week that week and presumably the other children just forgot to show (20+ kids had signed up). We did some warm up exercises and some basketball drills (dribbling, passing) before going into a game (the sessions are only an hour long). Though I want to work with children when I graduate I had forgotten how much energy kids have, and it's really refreshing.

 

Because of the amount of volunteers who signed up, we had to be split into two groups with each group alternating going on Fridays. Another group went last week and I was supposed to go today, but unfortunately it was cancelled due to road conditions (it's beginning to snow pretty bad). Since this was a trial run, there is only one session left next week, which the other group will be doing, and I was disappointed.

 

However, I have just gotten news that this program will be continued next year and I'm so excited for it! Kids need the opportunity to expend their energy and playing sports as well as interacting with older kids (like myself) who can act as other role models for them is, I feel, very important. I'm so glad this opportunity came along and I can't wait for next year!

Right to Play UofA Tunnel Ball World Record

On Wednesday, the official Right to Play club at my University-- the University of Alberta, attempted to gather enough people on the Quad to break the Guinness World Record for highest number of people to participate in tunnel ball. It was supposed to start at 3 o'clock but by then it looked like we didn't even have 50 people, so we waited, and waited. And then we begin a demo round around 4 which turned into practice which kept going for about half an hour. In the process we got more people to get in and by the end we had 129 people! The previous world record was a 120 people. I didn't think it would be that difficult to find 120+ people in a university setting but I guess it was. So glad we did it and managed to raise funds for the Right to Play organization. Definitely go check them out!

Banff and Elk Island National Parks

 

Banff

Last Saturday, I went to Banff and got to see Lake Louise! It was simply gorgeous and too beautiful for my eyes. The water was crystal blue and behind the lake was a spectacular snow topped mountain. Fortunately, I found out that my camera had a panorama option and took a few of those. I took photos of the lake in different angles so many times but couldn't get enough.

And the town of Banff was so quaint and beautiful as well! A major tourist attraction.

Elk Island

 

And then today, I went to Elk Island National Park and was hoping to see some wildlife, but only got to see Bison, which I guess was a great experience as well. There was actually one right on the trail we were walking but walked away once it saw us approaching. They're huge! But pretty docile I think. Apart from that, and maybe a beaver and a squirrel, we were not able to see anymore wildlife. Bummer.

And the weather was really quite cold today, not a good day to be outdoors, though the onslaught of Fall did bring pretty colours along with it.

The Colour Run 2014

On Sunday (yesterday) I went for the Colour Run KL, 2014. Basically its a 5 kilometre walk/run (whichever you prefer) and at every kilometre are stations with different coloured powder that gets thrown at you. The slogan for this Colour Run is The Happiest 5k on the Planet.

 

I was not expecting so many people to attend. I arrived quite late because of the traffic getting in, and also to find parking. But it didn't matter because the runners went in waves and there were at least 5 waves of 100 or so people in each.

The weather was, thank heavens, not scorching. But then again it was quite early morning. I woke up at 5.15AM and headed home around 10.30AM. It felt like so much time had passed but really it's because I woke up early.

To be honest, the colour run wasn't all that. Supposedly the happiest 5km on the planet was just 5km with coloured powder, and a mini rave at the end. Perhaps I would have enjoyed it more if I had went with friends, but I couldn't find any to go with and so went with my cousins plus her friends and my mom and her friend who got free tickets. In my opinion this event was overrated and overpriced. We didn't even get much merchandise from the run itself except a shirt, a headband and temporary tattoos. I saw others wearing colour run sunglasses (which they bought) and that would've been a cool souvenir to keep.

Well it was still quite fun, but not fun enough to be RM75. (The clean up must have been hell, unless they just left the colours on the road.)

TEDxKL 2014

I'm sure everyone has at least heard of TED talks. No? Well here's their website; http://www.ted.com/ They go by the slogan, Ideas Worth Spreading. Yesterday, I had the opportunity to attend TEDxKL. Basically, TED talks first originated in California which attracted worldwide attention, and now, the conference has expanded globally. However, it is the local groups who organize and mainly local speakers who present in the talks under TED. The reason TEDxKL has and 'x' in it is because it stands for, "independently organized TED event."

I really did not know what to expect but was feeling pretty hyped about the whole thing. Of course, I had watched TED videos before, and even attended a talk by a speaker for TED while in University, but this was the real whole day conference. There were a total of 18 speakers and the topic varied from economics, humankind, the environment, to music, magic and robots. Here's a list of the presenters: http://www.tedxkl.com/presenters-2014/
It was really interesting to hear about topics that I knew of and to learn on others I knew little about.

However, I feel that there were quite a lot of economists, or speakers speaking of economics. And for some speakers, I had no idea what they were talking about or heading towards, which was a little tedious. Plus the theme for this TEDx talk was 'The Open Future' and though most tried to relate their talks to that, some did not and so felt a bit out of place.

Saying that, it was still a really great experience. The incorporation of a few music performances was a fantastic idea; it livened the audience and was really captivating. The magic performance as well was really fascinating, though it probably would have been better if he was not the last speaker, as a lot of people had left and some were rushing to leave (including myself).

And I did feel that the audience were not as responsive as could have been. I guess I am to blame as well. If any of the speakers are reading this, I just want to say that you all did a fantastic job and I was really impressed. Thank you so much to the presenters, sponsors, organizers and volunteers who helped to make this happen. I will not forget this experience, the first time I ever attended a TED talk!

First solo flight

I am now back in Malaysia for the summer, and boy does it feel like summer. If you have ever been to Malaysia -- or know how it feels like to be in a tropical country near the equator, you know how I feel. After 6 months of freezing cold to chilling winds and mildly hot days, I am now melting. Boy, have I have missed being sticky and sweaty.

Anyway, to get back to Malaysia I had to fly alone for the first time. I actually thought I would be pretty scared and nervous but surprisingly I was not. For some reason I was really chill, which makes me wonder if I was on some sort of morphine high or something because I was TOO chill. But it was a cool experience. I've been on a lot of flights before so I guess that helped a lot.

In total along with transit time, my journey took 25 hours. Well if I start from the time the shuttle picked me up, that would be 3 1/2 more hours, so 28 1/2 hours. And by the end I was feeling like I had been on a plane for my whole life.

And now that I am back, it feels as though I have never left. Still, it is too hot. Too hot. Can't wait to get back to Canada now!

World Partnership Walk

Celebrating its 30th anniversary, I was lucky to be part of this huge event here in Edmonton. I volunteered to help out and got assigned to be a route volunteer. The World Partnership Walk is a 5km walk to raise awareness and funds to end global poverty (especially those of mothers and children) and 100% of the proceeds goes to the Aga Khan foundation. A spectacular event with a huge turnout of more than a thousand people walking with a purpose. And I know approximately how many people walked because I had a counter (those old school clicky ones) and did my best to count every person that passed me.

It was a pretty fun day and I was standing 90% of the time, so am pretty exhausted right now. But the main advantage of volunteering at events like these (apart from helping a good cause) is that you meet new people and make friends. I have definitely become more open and less shy around new people since I've been here and that's a good thing. I'm not saying I'm no longer an introvert (I'm pretty sure I always will be), but that I am now less uncomfortable and awkward around those I have just met.

I feel like I am experiencing life right now, and what better time than in university huh? Being all on my own and exploring new places, opportunities, people. These few years are going to be fun. I'll definitely want to help out next year (this is a yearly walk).

To end, here is a picture of me at the event grounds:

Host Edmonton 2014

 

Host Edmonton is about Eat. Drink. Think. I'm not here to promote it or anything, but I got to volunteer at the event and it was a fun experience. Their website looks really professional and you would never think that this was their first year doing this. Here's the site: http://hostedmonton.com/.

 

It was a 4 day event from Thurs-Sun, but the core of it was on Friday and Saturday. I volunteered the whole day Saturday (yesterday). Honestly, we volunteers were unsure of what we were supposed to be doing, and just followed the core team's instructions and doing whatever they wanted us to. It may have been a bit chaotic behind the scenes, but overall I think it was pretty well done, considering that this was their first year (they hope to go on for three more years).

Also, it must have been a really big budget production. They had so much excess customized pens and notebooks and they got quite a few big shot names in the culinary world to come up and speak. However, the turnout wasn't as big as expected. Maybe they should have advertised it more because I certainly hadn't heard of it until it was posted on a volunteer page at my university.

Regardless, it was a fun day and I met a lot of new people and had fun coming out of my shell. I was greeting people coming off the escalators in the morning, then doing odd errands and staying at the registration booth for the remainder of the late afternoon-evening.

And I must say that the core team really took care of us volunteers. They fed us with good food, let us attend the talks, and gave us free drinks. And yes there were alcoholic drinks too, which we could try. A really fun day, and if they have this again next year, I wouldn't mind helping out again.

Defend Our Climate!

So yesterday, on the 10th of May, was Canada's national 'Defend Our Climate, Defend Our Communities' day. This day opposes the government's relationship with oil companies-- especially against the tar sands and pipeline productions.

In Edmonton, a mock ceremony was held to depict the 'too-close' relationship between the government and oil companies. Here is the news coverage of that day: http://edmonton.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=361502&binId=1.1203428&playlistPageNum=1
And if you want to watch the whole ceremony, it's on here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6h5IiWq3X018 minutes long, but it's pretty funny.

I actually did not know we were going to have quite a big turnout. It was pretty epic even though there were some mishaps and problems along the way (especially with the weather). This was an event organized by Greenpeace, and I was one of the volunteers. I was supposed to be at a table giving out information leaflets and flyers to people who wanted them, but it was too windy and at some point it started to snow, so we didn't set the table up.

Not the best day to be out and about at a wedding, but it was definitely worth it. My only regret is that I didn't take a picture at the end with the backdrop. Well I'm just glad that there are so many people out there who cares about our environment. Even young children participated. And it was across Canada, in places like Toronto, Vancouver and Victoria which had much bigger turnouts, though I personally feel that ours was more epic.

You don't have to be in Canada to defend our climate. Defend yours with small steps at a time! Leave your environmental footprint behind and let people know that you care.

I was here, were you?

Happy Earth Day!

It's Earth Day!

On top of that, I had my last finals today, so I'm doubly happy. =]

Yesterday I volunteered at an Earth Day event with Greenpeace Edmonton. It was just a few organizations gathering to promote what they do and raise awareness in the community though, nothing big.

There were also activities planned for children, as it was located in a community centre, and one of the activities was learning basic sign language. I joined that one, and yay I can sign most of the alphabet now. I forgot a few letters, but know enough to spell my name!

Here's a little poster to get you thinking.

 

Think of everyday as Earth day. If the Earth dies, you do too.

Do what you can to save this world, one footprint at a time. 

Why study overseas?

I've just finished my first term here in Canada, so have been here for about 4 months. During this time, I've told people that I'm an international student about a billion times. I got many responses to that and quite a lot were to do with why I came here. I don't know what it is exactly (and I mean no offence when I say this) but people here are pretty self-involved. They don't know much about the world outside of their own and that just seems kind of ignorant to me. Don't get me wrong, they're nice people, and of course I don't expect them to know every culture in other countries, but it's like they only focus on their own. Maybe that was offensive.. OK honestly, it's probably a culture shock since I come from a country that is very multicultural.

Anyway, one of the responses I got when I said I was from Malaysia, was, "But Malaysia has a lot of good schools as well, no?" Yea, no. For those of us who can, getting an education abroad paves the way for a better future. It is a great experience as well becoming independent in a new country, but there are times when I have thought, if only Malaysia had a better education system, then I wouldn't have to move halfway across the world. Not only would it save a ton of money, I would also be able to stay with my family and friends. But then I wouldn't get to explore other cultures; I guess there are pros and cons to every decision. I just really miss driving around and honestly, the food as well. Before coming over, I was adamant that I would not miss the food, because I eat whatever and don't really crave anything. But...how I miss dim sum.

Just part of growing up I guess. Adapting to new changes and working hard for the future. I've been pretty busy these few weeks, been volunteering and stuff. I'm looking to volunteer in more places.

Here's a list of my volunteer activities:
Recently, I volunteered at an event in my university which was called PositiviDAY. It was hosted during the last day of term and was aimed at uplifting people's spirits for the coming finals. A very fun day and it brought a lot of smiles around. Stay positive people!

I've also attended a Greenpeace volunteer meeting, and will be attending these regularly as well as participating in any other events planned.

And March 29th was Earth Hour! I participated in a Lights Out Flash Mob, which was just us going around in pairs switching lights off around campus. That was a fun night as well. Many don't see the point of Earth Hour, but it's baby steps. If the world can collectively switch their lights off for an hour then it raises public awareness and we can progress from there. (I hope you switch off any electrical iterms when you're not using them).

So that about sums up the past few weeks. Paying it forward one footprint at a time. I was here, were you?

Highs and lows of the past few months

Sorry, this post is going to be about university life again. It's a huge experience, so will have quite a few posts dedicated to it.

I think that because I am now living alone and don't have support (meaning my family and my pets) when I reach my new home; that I've become more sensitive to emotional triggers. I think I mentioned before that I cry easily in situations. Well those situations are mostly limited to confrontations but now, I get easily upset when I don't do well. To be fair, I do have high expectations for myself and when I don't achieve them, I  feel pretty down.

For example, I am taking this one class which is an Introduction to Women's/Gender Studies and though it is very interesting, it is also quite hard to score highly. I did quite poorly on my mid-term and subsequent assignments. I have been feeling low after every one of this class, then I take a day or so to feel better and then the class comes again and another cycle starts. I have been trying hard to improve and one of the things is that I'm extremely shy and don't talk at all in class. Problem is, 10% is for participation, so I've already lost 10%. And I've never felt like withdrawing from a course before, but I seriously considered dropping this. But then I got over that and told myself that I don't give up. I'll just have to try and improve my grade the best that I can.

A good thing about this course is that it has a Community Service Learning component to it, so I signed up for that and paired with an organization called Men Edmonton. They hope to help raise awareness in boys and men of sexism. For this project I created a web-based campaign and posted photos I edited as well as any other videos I could find. Here's the link if you want to take a look! www.fightforgenderequality.tumblr.com

Anyhwo, back to the subject of highs and lows. I think a big part of what kept me from feeling so low, was playing basketball and exercising. I mainly walk to the supermarket on days that have good weather, and since Spring is here, that means most of the time. Its good to be able to just take a stroll and not be kept inside for the whole day. I also joined this co-rec basketball team and though we lost both games so far, it was still fun and I made some friends.

So yeap, I hope I've moved past the lows. It's also because of this new environment that would've influenced how I felt. So if you're ever feeling lonely, I know how you feel. But know that things will get better and to exercise!
(I put this under 'issues', because of the gender studies component. Sexism is a huge issue!)

Adapting to New Environments

We are pretty adaptive beings.

Personally, I have a lot of experience in moving house and usually, upon receiving news of relocating yet again, I would feel quite sad- especially when I moved from a bigger house to a smaller one. However, I got used to the new surroundings pretty fast and it was like I'd been there forever. Here's a list of the times I've moved (plus the countries I've moved to). The years are an approximate.

1. (2000) Moved to Shanghai, China:
2. Moved house once

3. (2003) Moved back to Malaysia:
4. (2005) Moved from BU ->KD
5. (2007) Moved from KD -> SPK
6. (2012) Moved from SPK -> AD
7. (2013) Moved from AD -> AD (Different compound, same area)

[(2013) Moved to Beijing, China (2 1/2 weeks)]

8.  (2013) Moved to Alberta, Canada alone

And here we are. In 13 years I have moved 8 times, well 9 if you count the 2 and a half weeks in Beijing. Technically only my parents moved there and I was just staying with them for a month (until my visitor visa expired) but then things didn't work out and we all moved back 2 weeks later. Funny stuff (they brought so much luggage over).

So, let's just keep it at 8. Honestly, even if I lived in a house for 3 years (4 is my max), it wouldn't feel any more of a home than if I had only lived there for a year. Granted, I would have more memories, but really, I adapt to new living spaces quite quickly. And I think this isn't just me; its all human beings.

The fact is, even if we moved every year, its not the house that makes it home, its the people living in it. So even though I moved 8 times over the past 13 years, I have always had my family with me along the transition thus, home was a portable intangible concept.

But now, I have moved and am living alone. My mom did help me transition to this new environment though, so that was a big help. But sometimes, I get horrendously homesick (especially since Chinese New Year just passed) but I know I'm going to be fine. I've almost completely adapted here and making new friends has always been a hard thing for me but it's coming along great.

Anyway, the point of this post was to say that no matter what life-changing moments may come to you (like moving house/migrating), they aren't as scary as they first seem. We are highly adaptive and with time, you'll be living as if you own the place.

Good luck to everyone facing the un-see able future! (which is literally everyone)
=D Peace

The baby bird has left the nest

So two weeks ago, my mom and I arrived in Canada. A week ago, she went back to Malaysia. I have now lived on my own for the first time, on opposite ends of the world from my family, for a week. To be honest it was scary at first; you might not know this about me, but I'm a cry baby. During primary I would cry at the start of every new year, with a new class. This stopped about when I reached secondary, or maybe earlier. I remember crying for only that first day of Year 4, for a short while. And by crying I mean tearing up a bit, I wasn't bawling.

Anyways, when my mom left, we were both crying. But then I was OK. Over the next few days I teared multiple times though. They come at the most random times and when I least want them. For example, I'll start tearing up whenever I'm talking to people. I went to talk to this lecturer after the class (I had just registered for it so had missed it) and halfway through I can feel my eyes starting to water, and it's so embarrassing and awkward because I have to turn my head so she won't see that I'm crying. *Input frustrated groan*

I know I've said that I'm an introvert and that I'm proud of it, but being a newcomer to a whole new country and having no friends whatsoever is quite intimidating. On the first day of class, when everyone had come back from holidays, the campus was filled with crowds of people. I don't do crowds, thus was really feeling very intimidated.

Another thing is that now I'm living alone (well with a flat mate), I have no idea what to eat every time (yes, my mom cooked back home). Breakfast is easy, and lunch is not so bad (I'll eat at uni or eat a salad or something), but dinner is very troublesome. My cooking skills aren't so bad, but I've never really had to cook like every day before. In Malaysia, it's very easy to go out and pack food back. I can't do that here since everything closes so early, plus its cold out and I'll have to change to go out.

So now I have to cook. I've spent a lot of money already just buying all my kitchenware and regretting buying them so early because I hadn't been to Wal-Mart yet and seriously, they have the cheapest stuff. But now I have cooked twice this week! So proud. I'll probably cook about 4/5 times a week, unless I go out and manage to pack something back. Looking forward to becoming a masterchef!

If you are in a situation like me or would like to start cooking your own food, I would recommend you to get a rice cooker. I bought 2 pans and a pot, but I all I need really is the rice cooker. Just wash your rice, put water in and then on top of that put whatever else you want, like meat and/or vegetables. Close it and press the cook/start button and 30 minutes later, your meal is done! Makes things so much easier and healthier.

Now that I have my dinner plans sorted, all I need to do is to keep busy with school work, make more friends, join clubs and enjoy my life at university. Bring it!

Crazy friendly

So I've just moved to Canada for my studies and though I was prepared for a very different culture and lifestyle, I was still shocked at how friendly the people here are. I've been here for about a week  and during that time I've ridden a lot of buses, that's where I experienced how polite and friendly Canadians are.

Being a total newcomer to the local transportation and the routes they take, my mom and I had to constantly ask the bus drivers for directions. Apart from the first bus we were on, all the drivers would readily tell us when to get off and some even chatted with us along the way.

Another bizarre thing for me was that passengers (not all, but enough) getting off would say 'thank you'. I know that its manners and I shouldn't be surprised but really, how many places do you know where people actually say thank you to bus drivers? Even this one dude who was talking on the phone and you know swearing the way some teens do, shouted 'Stop please', after the bus driver missed the stop, and said 'thank you!' after.

Another thing that I am not used to is how handicap friendly everything is and how people are so accustomed to handicapped people. I sat near the front of the bus multiple times and noticed that a lot of people in the front got up at one stop. I had thought they had gotten off, but they had just moved to the back because either a senior citizen, a handicapped person or a person with strollers was getting on. The front is reserved for priority seating and can be flipped up to make more space for those who need it (picture).
Furthermore, the first time I saw the chairs pushed up was the same time I noticed everyone moving back. This woman came on board, pushed the row of empty seats up and went to sit on the other side of the bus. Then when I was wondering what in the world these people were doing, a person in a wheelchair comes in and takes the spot that was vacated and it all makes sense. Shockingly. Really, this renews my faith in humanity.

But that's not the most shocking thing. The most shocking thing was that the bus drivers themselves said good day or thanks to the passengers getting off. The first time this happened I was wondering who the driver was talking to and what he was saying. After a few stops I figured out that he was saying "good day" to the passengers getting off, even when the passengers didn't say thank you.

Seriously it kind of reminds me of the film The Invention of Lying, where everyone is so honest at the beginning of the film (not sure if it's the same throughout, did not watch the rest of the movie).

Oh and their LRT stations. There are absolutely no security measures, in the sense that you could literally just walk in and get on the train. There are no turnstiles, no barriers, nothing. And they supposedly do random checks and if you hadn't followed the proper procedures (E.G. a validated ticket) you'd be fined $250. Maybe that's enough of a deterrent for people to refrain from cheating the system, but that's a hell of a lot of trust the government has in its citizens.


Though it sounds like I'm complaining, I'm pretty sure I'm going to love living and studying here. It really is a beautiful country (even through its coldness) and the people are just as beautiful.