~Jacqueline_Ch~

Hey hey! The last blog was before my orientation & now, it’s been 3 weeks past my orientation. Nothing much to talk about the orientation. Kinda boring in a way cos they just bombarded us with information from morning till evening. No ragging (cos we’re international students + we’re seniors hehe…)

Life in university is different from college life back in HELP, Malaysia. I guess we were really in a way spoon fed, given notes n lectured by lecturers. Here, its all up to us. Advance reading, critical thinking etc. They emphasize a lot on participation, meaning we had to open up our mouths to talk & ask questions in class instead of preparing ourselves with pens n papers for note taking. Forcing me to come out from my shell. Back there, who cares whether u say a thing in class or not. Now here, u lose marks when u keep ur mouth shut. It’s best that the lecturers remember ur name. Books here are expensive MAXIMUM! I actually bought a book for $114 (Rm400???) & that’s like only ONE book. I’ve bought the rest second hand, ranging from $30 to $60. Sigh… No choice. Books are necessities here cos all subjects require advance reading (except for Chinese - Yes, i’m taking Chinese classes. Seemed like a guaranteed "A" Haha…)

I’ve so far tried snowmobiling & sledding. Gonna try ice fishing tomoro. SHould b fun n cool. Snowmobiling’s a really fun sport. We’re all not entitled to lisence. So, it was those ppl who had them bringing us on their snowmobile. Rily "chi kek". I sat on a sled with a friend while being pulled by the snowmobile. Took pictures too. Unfortunately, on the day where everyone was having fun, stg misfortunate happened. A friend of ours kinda broke his arm. Well, what can i say - "malang tidak berbau"… Sledding is exciting as well. Fast, all the way down the slope. Butt hurts though. N if ur face ain’t covered, that’s when the snow comes splashing. Painful! The best was the 6 ppl train sledding I think. Wonderful experience…

Watched my first live ice hockey game on last Saturday (21.1.06). Another memorable experience. From what i’ve heard, my U’s ice hockey team is considered one of the best teams in the state. So, BSU students had free tickets or else we had to buy the tickets for $12. Walked in Licken Hall, all blur. I had no idea of the rules, the players etc. Only watched it on tv. Stood where all the other U students stood. Could see some of them holding the brooms up side down. Was wondering why did they brought the brooms. The band was at the corner. When the game finally started, ppl were shouting out the cheers that I could hardly hear or comprehend. THen, the players skated out. Screams n cheers everywhere. Btw, BSU’s team had a mascot/ representative of "beavers". Game started. A friend was explaining to me the details while watching. Very "kan chiong". Hard always skipped a beat when the puck goes near the goal. The cheers were rather cute i would say. Let me see…
Cheer after scoring:
B E M I D J I, Bemidji, Bemidji, Go… Beavers!!!

Cheer to score:
Give me an "S" (crowd shouts "S"), Give me an "E", Give me an "X"
What’s the word?
SEX
What does it stand for?
SCORE, SCORE, SCORE, SCORE… (I’m not rily sure whether this is the right way, but it’s stg similar)

Cheer for defense:
Give me a "C", Give me an "O", Give me an "N", Give me a "D", Give me an "O", Give me an "M"
What’s the word?
CONDOM
What does it stand for?
DEFENSE, DEFENSE, DEFENSE, DEFENSE…

Cheer for teamwork:
Give me an "O", Give me an "R", Give me a "G", Give me a "Y"
What’s the word?
ORGY
What does it stand for?
TEAMWORK, TEAMWORK, TEAMWORK, TEAMWORK…

Wheneva we score, the crowd will shout "Save, Save, Save, Save…" towards the opponent’s keaper (I think…)

Then sometimes, they’ll bring up the broom & shout "Sweep" meaning "sapu" Haha…

Heard them shouting "Harper sucks, Harper sucks…" Harper’s the name of the opponent’s keeper.

The crowd even insulted the referee cos it seems that everytime this particular referee’s around, our team gets extra penalties…

Ice hockey’s a rough game but that’s part of wat contributes to the excitement. During the 1st period, we lost by 1 point I think or we tied (1-2 or 2-2). The opponent’s the Air Force Academy (represented as Falcon). 2nd period, we either tied or lost by 1point (2-3 or 3-3). Can’t remember clearly. 3rd period a.k.a last period, we WON by 5-3!!! Yay! Was so happy that our U won. Was kinda worried at the beginning cos we were trailing & the opponents were just attacking. During the last few minutes (after we lead), the opponents started using the striking strategy, as in no goal keepers - all 5 strikers. Risky… A game worthy of watching…

Basketball, on the other hand’s, not such a favorite game here. I saw the BSU team. All black & 2 whites. No leng chai. Haha…

I have 3 psyc quizes coming up this week. Burdeningnya… Die liao la…

CNY’s this Sunday. I’m gonna miss home very very much. I’m already missing the Malaysian delicacies already. Now, i realize where Malaysia has its value - FOOD. (Don misunderstand. Not refering to the people. I have lots of ppl i love back there. Was refering to the education, politics, economics etc.)

Guess that’s all for now. Till I blog again…

Actually this is a very late entry cos its almost a week before already & I can’t rily recall the events that took place.  Anyway, in my last blog entry, I mentioned that I’ll continue from day 4 without realizing that I’ve already blogged about it in the last paragraph (i think…). Ok, let’s continue from Day 5. If i’m not mistaken, it was Saturday & we went to the lake side. The lake was frozen & it’s like a layer of ice above the water. Similar to a skating ring kinda place. The snow was really high, up until the knees & as we walked towards the lake, we just sunk into it. Haha… The lake was amazing! Beautiful maximum! It’s like a whole white piece of land & u can see from afar, there are trucks, cabin, snowmobile etc. The scenery was just breath taking! Took quite a lot of photos there too. Tot the weather wasn’t all that cold that but do not judge a book by it’s cover. I wasn’t wearing any long john. Just a plain jacket & winter jacket with jeans. A  layer of leather gloves (which wasn’t all that think, bought from Sox world) & snow boots with cotton socks instead of wool socks. By the end of the "trip", my finger tips & toe tips were rily aching & numbing already. An experience worth remembering… Yeah…

Day 6. Wat’s on Day 6? I think we stayed back at Linden Hall (the place where I live) & played poker cards practically the whole day. Haha…

Day 7. Went out with the gang (plus mama, hing hing, pui wah & huey) to welcome the new bunch of students arriving from KL. There were about 7 of them. Had to prepare dinner for the bunch just as how the seniors had prepared for us earlier on. Learnt & had my 1st experience of "deboning" chicken today. The chicken fillets here are costly. SO, the most cost effective method is to get chicken thighs & debone it. Btw, the deboned chickens are for curry purposes. We prepared ABC soup (by Val added with chicken bones from the deboning process haha…), curry chicken (by Hing Hing), Cabbage & brinjal (by Mun Yee ++), Onion eggs (by Xin Yuan) & drinks (by Bruce?). I think that’s about it. Now… not that I didn’t help ok? I was in charge of dish washing. Not that anyone put me into responsibility but since no1 was doing it… I just went ahead with it. I’m kinda known as the "dish washer" (Val claims that it’s cos I dunno how to cook… *sob sob*). Alot of left overs cos the new bunch didn’t eat much (I think). So, the foods gonna be tmr’s dinner AGAIN!

Day 8. Went to Target (another shopping place). Went on walking in & out the shops nearby. There was a Dollar Tree shop which sold almost everything for $1. There were kinda a few (or should I say alot) things cos there were cheaper ones there such as network cable ($1 for $10), biscuits, tortilla chips, baskets etc. I realized that every single time we come out shopping, we always end up having quite a lot of packets brought home. Spend like crap… Wahahaha…

Day 9… I don’t remember day 9… Another new bunch arriving? Haha… Kinda "chap" my stuffs. Haven’t shifted into my official room. Preparing to so that tmr nonit to rush…

Day 10. Shifting day!!! Helped the new bunch as they were still kinda blur, unequipped n all. Finally got our keys to our rooms. Went through quite a hassle actually. Firstly, waited for Hing Hing at Walnut Hall soooo long. Freezing outside! Went to Res Life & they said the keys were at Linden. Hing HIng finally showed up. Next thing we know, the keys aren’t at Linden & they’re at the security. Shucks! Nvm… Had a "da sao chu" aka "gotong-royong" cleaning up our new rooms. Adjusted the bed, sweeped & vacuumed the floor, mopped the floor with small clothes (mop was dirty), wiped the furnitures. TIring day but worth it! My room (with Val) and Fang’s room (with Yi) are like the few neat ones around. So proud of our hardwork & proud of myself cos I seldom do house chores at home. Haha… Finally unpacked. I realized another thing. I think I’m more of a clean person than I realize I am. Sweeping the room quite a few times a day cos there’s always sand everywhere. Maybe cos we always walk in n out of the room… Sigh… Well, that’s wat we need to do to maintain a "Malaysian" style room (NO SLIPPERS IN). Haha…

I guess that’s all the days. Orientation starts tomoro. Anticipating yet worried…

How’s life here in Bemidji? Erm… It’s considered a tourism spot especially during summer cos of the lake. The Mississipy River flows into the lake & Bemidji’s the first town next to it. Beautiful scenery, according to the locals.

Went shopping on the 2nd day of arrival. The groceries are actually cheap here (dollar for dollar of cos). We had a full trolley & it only costs about $70. If it were to be in Malaysia, it would be at least rm120. The oriental stuffs here are kinda expensive. Seniors advised us to get "great value" stuffs cos here, ppl don look at the brand. Everything is about the same so it’s pointless buying a more expensive stuff. Guess wat? The lake’s in Bemidji and yet they don’t have SEAFOOD here!!! Can u imagine? We were shocked when the seniors told us that… No seafood for one whole year *sob sob* They do have life lobsters though & their shrimps are all COOKED! No ikan bilis here. Hard to make soup… Hmmm… Kinda regret not bringing spices from Malaysia. Sigh… Walked in Wall Mart (similar to our Carrefour) for a whole 2 hours, buying all the necessities. We can actually get lost in there. Serious, it’s huge… Went to the BIg K Mart. Saw shoes. Darn cheap! Much cheaper than Malaysia! I almost bought a pair of Nike shoes for $19.99 which is like RM80 only! But i didn’t cos didn’t feel like buying. Haha… Did i mention i’ve gotten my winter boots already? Luckily Didn’t buy them back in Malaysia. I bought mine for only $9 (RM36)!!!! In Malaysia, a pair’s about rm300-rm700. *I bought a kid’s size though* Haha…

Visited a senior’s family friend before shopping. Everyone calls her "mama". She’s about 60++ I think, a grandmother of 2. She’s very used to International students, asking us to treat her home as our home far away from home. Very nice person. She rily makes it easier to be here especially when we’re all home sick & bf sick. Haha… She’s a very strong christian & she actually takes the role of "parents" among the students - as in preventing us from going to pubs/ bars, no pak toh with American guys (haha) etc. So with her around, it’s kinda a relief cos she’s somesort of a guardian.

Ate pizza for dinner. Ate 3 pcs & full like crap! But the seniors were eating to theirselves. I overheard one girl eating 6 pcs. Wow! It’s impossible not to get fat here, according to the seniors… I DOWAN!!! NO WAY!!!

On the 3rd day, went over to our lecturer’s son’s house. Played snow fight along the way… Very nice & cozy house. We were all wrapped up while the rest of them were saying it’s WARM. OMG! Suppose we’re still not used to the weather yet… Haha… After that went over to Amanda’s house to take the stuffs that we wanted. She rented the house’s basement. Very low ceiling & "kouk". Cannot tahan staying in there for long… Carried heavy stuffs back all the way to the campus…

Intravarsity Christian Fellowship at night. Very friendly couples staying in there. Met a few foreigners. Played "apples to apples". Quite interesting. A fun way to learn about American culture…

Next day went to the mart again. Spent $120 this time cos we got ourselves humidifiers. THe weather here may be cold but it’s dry to the max (my skin is "peeling" ugly!!!) We did our laundry & it dried the very next day. Jeans?! Dried in a night’s time?! It’s super the dry here… The rest of them went over to Payless (shoe shop) to get their winter boots. Mine’s still the cheapest hehe… Val got hers for $28, Fang & Yi - $25 (they got the same pattern, only different sizes). Ate at the burger shop. EXPENSIVE! One meal for $7! The portion’s huge though…

Blog for day 4 later… C ya!

P/s: Have been entering kitchen these few days more often than I have in a year’s time back in Malaysia. Haha!