Showing posts with label vacation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vacation. Show all posts

Monday, June 1, 2009

Music is THE universal language

I just love languages and music... Friends know that I have a voracious appetite for music (Remember my Korean craze...) A month ago, in the attempt to brush up my Spanish, I've turned to music for help.

With my very limited Spanish, I conjured these 3 words:
"Aqui"= Here "Yo Estoy"= I am and viola! It brought me to this MTV in YouTube and guess what! I've totally AMOR it! The music and the lyrics... Enjoy :)



I loved it so much... I pestered Marian to bring me to buy this album in El Paso. Marian recommended Wal-Mart- hmm a very unlikely choice in my opinion. But she was right! CDs were impossibly cheap there. Much cheaper than those in CD Rama.

She was such a darling. As we were choosing which albums to get, she subconsciously gave a me a remedial lesson on Spanish! I felt that I learnt more Spanish than I ever did in class... (it must be the Spanish speaking environment.)

After an afternoon in Walmart. I finally made my purchase on
Luis Foni's Palabras Del Silencio ="Words Of The Silence" (OF COURSE! I flew half a globe to get that!)


Julieta Venegas's Si= "YES"

I told Marian that I like soft rock and she recommended this Grammy awards winner album.
Apparently Julieta Venegas is a Mexican alt-rocker, so it's quite a sight to see her posed demurely in a wedding dress, against a pink background, on the cover of Si.








Maná's Arde El Cielo = "the sky burns"
(Marian taught me that the stress was supposed to be on "NA" as the sign was above "a" so in Hanyu pinyu it sounds something like ma1 na4)

Marian's favourite band...

Sunday, May 31, 2009

Kids say the darnest thing!

thanks to Ling, I had the rare opportunity to be
the ambassador of Singapore to the kids from <=Lincoln Middle School during my
vacation in US.











<=Wow they even had a street named after our country. :)
ok i side-tracked...

















Anyways, we started off at 7+am to Lincoln Middle School.Ling has "warned" me a little about the American school culture so I found myself a little jittery during our drive there... (all the horrible scenes from the American High School dramas were just replaying inside my mind...)

Well, apparently I was being over-paranoid.

When I reached the classroom, I remembered awkwardly presenting my hand for a formal handshake (well, that was the international right thing to do isn't it?). Ha... But warm and fuzzy Ms Munoz (teacher) just went straight to give me a big bear hug... That hug definitely quelled my jitters.
<= Me warming up to the American culture with Ms Munoz :)







Ling quickly got started with the Powerpoint presentation on Singapore (Thank GOD! cos i hadn't had time to prepare anything since i left in a rush).

Halfway through our presentation on the infamous topic on the chewing gum ban, a smart alec questioned us about the authenticity of the statement as he read in Youth Geographics that the ban was lifted in 2001.
HUH! (now, we are really awake!)

Luckily we managed to salvage the situation with the explanation that only certain gums like nicotine gums or oral medical gums are allowed. Which later i checked, HENG AH! My memory served me right...



There was also a part where my worst fears happened... The kids asked me about the significance of the crescent and stars on my flag. SHUCKS!i forgot!!!!!
Ling tried to help me by saying that the crescent signify an Islamic country... Which luckily i remembered that it's NOT and quickly corrected the statement. Cos for our country, the crescent means a young country. PHEW!!! (but thanks Ling!) Well, the stars totally got me dumbfounded... (I clearly need more gingko nuts...)


Kids: Do you have any actors from Singapore???
Me: Of course we have (but who?!?)
Kids: Name us one....
Me: Erm... (i'd never imagine that i will have to thank her one day) Fann Wong from Shanghai Noon.
Kids: OHHH... (GOSH she is indeed global!!!!)

THANK YOU FANN for helping us earn a place in Hollywoods.





We presented to 2 different classes and the experience was AWESOME!!! Yes Kids do say the darnest things.. But I loved em!

They totally LOVED the postcards and keychains that I specially bought in Singapore...









One group picture for momento sake!!!!
Where's me???









The kids had to fill up a feedback form before we leave and this is one of them... Ow... aren't they sweet...

Saturday, May 30, 2009

Finally on blogspot!

finally!!! after failing (like a million times) to upload any picture on my previous blog, I've finally heeded ling's advice to set up one on blogspot. anyways... i need to get started on a first topic...

wall-e speaker shall be it!

it was love at first sight at Yukiko's graduation party! (even momo agreed...)

then there was a sign from the fortune cookie I had during lunch:

seriously, i didn't think much about the note other then the fact that i should really try my hands on the 6million El Paso Lottery... (which i did buy)

well this is the outlet, and a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do at the outlet: SHOP!!! (duh! what else???) anyway, i totally "worked" myself out at New Balance and the Adidas until I accidentally bumped into Belle then did i realise that i've hit the Disney Store...


thanks to the swine, i missed my chance to visit the real Disney store in Anaheim. whichever the case... it was a pleasant bump! :)

anyway, Ling and I went "LET's GO!" and quickly checked out the store.

Ling found herself instantly busy with the "class of 2009" Mickeys, Minnies and other soft toys so i roamed to the other end of the store...

then LO and BEHOLD! something caught my eye.... wall-e


ERM...but this wall-e looks a wee-bit different from the one i saw in Yukiko's house. Hmm... a little chuckier than i remembered...then as i frantically examined this wall-e i found the answer:
aiya! alarm clock not speaker leh... But i was surprisingly encouraged by this find. I thought that it MUST BE a sign that my speaker wall-e is near...

well, like the taiwanese serial suggest: 《轉角*遇到愛》, I found my wall-e speaker right at a turn!

Needless to say...I bought it! and there it is! posing with Ling's bro (Zunhan's) transformer speaker... Muahahaha... all the celebrity speakers in the house unite!!!