It started with... I think it started with Thai, last year, two weeks before our SEAsia trip. I tried to cram as many Rosetta Stone Thai lessons as I could. What I didn't realize was that Rosetta Stone wouldn't do me much good in the extremely short term (and has questionable merits in general). Oh well.
Then... Korean... late May, right before our Yosemite trip. I saw the Pimsleur CDs at the Palo Alto library while browsing for... well, I don't remember. It was one of those many impulse checkouts that so often occur when I go to the library. The CDs were great for our daily drive to and from the Valley, whenever K would agree to be subjected to the lessons (or if he was sick in the hotel). I only went through 4-5 Korean lessons though.
After we took our "let's try for Europe this fall" thought and ran with it a couple of weeks ago, I started the Italian. I liked the teaching style of Pimsleur Korean, so I'm trying Pimsleur Italian, supplemented by a set of free Italian podcasts. For the trip, I'm responsible for Spanish and Italian. And K's reviewing/re-learning French. Completing 90 Pimsleur Italian lessons before our trip means more than one lesson a day - I'm trying. I don't know what I'll do about the Spanish though... somehow fit in reviewing or re-learning whatever I was supposed to have learned in high school, I suppose.
Italian podcast led to... looking for a Chinese podcast for maintaining/improving my Chinese (which has greatly deteriorated). And so, just a couple of days ago I added chinesepod.com to my iGoogle page. They have several levels... Newbie, Elementary, Intermediate, Upper Intermediate, Advanced, and Media. K says the elementary level is about right for him and maybe some intermediate. The advanced and media work well for me (just the understanding/speaking... reading the descriptions of the podcasts is somewhat blah).
Yay for libraries (my taxes at work) and free internet resources ^o^
Monday, July 30, 2007
Thursday, July 5, 2007
year 2006 reads & shows, summer to end
Sightseeing [Rattawut Lapcharoensap]
Book 1 in J's prepare-me-for-SEAsia reading list. I knew it was a book of short stories (I found the book in the short stories section of the library) and yet it didn't hit me until after I was done with the first story. I was fully expecting a long and engrossing novel when the first one just ended with a running pig and flying mangoes. A couple of the stories were kind of depressing to read... sort of sad, but not a teary sadness. Yet, they were strangely captivating. It's something I'd read again and would recommend.
Countdown [Steve Olson]
About the 2001 42nd IMO. Though the "focus" is that IMO and it's six US team members, a large majority of the book is spent on discussing contributions to the mathematical success of these kids... what made them who they are? Explores issues like "nature vs. nurture", why so few women are seen exploring math, the afffect/non-affect of parenting, math education in the US vs other countries, etc. Fairly interesting and a pretty quick read since some of the book is written in narrative form.
Nectar in a Sieve [Kamala Markandaya]
A story about an woman (really child 12 yrs old) married to a tenant farmer during a time when foreign investment and development was starting to be brought into rural India. There were short bouts of happiness here and there but it's basically sad throughout as she suffers through one unending hardship after another and lives an impoverished life. An ok read.
Shadow of a Giant [Orson Scott Card]
Final book (I think) in the Ender's Shadow line. Fast read.
Memoirs of a Geisha [Authur Golden]
The soap-opera-ishness of the novel makes me doubt some of the contents as being "the way it was", but it was overall a semi-enjoyable read: as long as you don't take it as truth and go in knowing it's a girly novel (i.e. some girl fawning over some guy and basing her almost entire existence on having the chance to see him).
Virgin Suicides [Jeffrey Eugenides]
You know the ending from the start, and the rest of the book will be a long, drawn out sadness where you won't ever really find out the answers to your questions. Of course, some might say the answers don't need to be spelled out. Though disturbing, the story is sort of surreal and dreamy... almost like a Dali painting. Scary and sad.
Sweet 18, 16 eps
K rates this at a 0/5, the lowest rating he's ever given to a Korean drama. I think there were too many cheesy/stupid comedic scenes for him. I found it entertaining though.
Peach Girl, 13 eps
Typical Taiwanese drama based on Japanese manga.
Mars, 21 eps
A lot of characters with crazy pasts and well, just crazy in some way. Aside from the romance-related parts, the whole drama essentially deals with uncovering and dealing with the past. A decent story though kind of slow-moving.
MISA (I'm Sorry, I Love You) - 3/5
Kim Sam Soon - 0/5 (K thought girl was too weird and violent)
Love at Aegean Sea (Qing ding aiqin hai) - 2/5 (Guy is too blah; non-main guy lead is good)
Book 1 in J's prepare-me-for-SEAsia reading list. I knew it was a book of short stories (I found the book in the short stories section of the library) and yet it didn't hit me until after I was done with the first story. I was fully expecting a long and engrossing novel when the first one just ended with a running pig and flying mangoes. A couple of the stories were kind of depressing to read... sort of sad, but not a teary sadness. Yet, they were strangely captivating. It's something I'd read again and would recommend.
Countdown [Steve Olson]
About the 2001 42nd IMO. Though the "focus" is that IMO and it's six US team members, a large majority of the book is spent on discussing contributions to the mathematical success of these kids... what made them who they are? Explores issues like "nature vs. nurture", why so few women are seen exploring math, the afffect/non-affect of parenting, math education in the US vs other countries, etc. Fairly interesting and a pretty quick read since some of the book is written in narrative form.
Nectar in a Sieve [Kamala Markandaya]
A story about an woman (really child 12 yrs old) married to a tenant farmer during a time when foreign investment and development was starting to be brought into rural India. There were short bouts of happiness here and there but it's basically sad throughout as she suffers through one unending hardship after another and lives an impoverished life. An ok read.
Shadow of a Giant [Orson Scott Card]
Final book (I think) in the Ender's Shadow line. Fast read.
Memoirs of a Geisha [Authur Golden]
The soap-opera-ishness of the novel makes me doubt some of the contents as being "the way it was", but it was overall a semi-enjoyable read: as long as you don't take it as truth and go in knowing it's a girly novel (i.e. some girl fawning over some guy and basing her almost entire existence on having the chance to see him).
Virgin Suicides [Jeffrey Eugenides]
You know the ending from the start, and the rest of the book will be a long, drawn out sadness where you won't ever really find out the answers to your questions. Of course, some might say the answers don't need to be spelled out. Though disturbing, the story is sort of surreal and dreamy... almost like a Dali painting. Scary and sad.
Sweet 18, 16 eps
K rates this at a 0/5, the lowest rating he's ever given to a Korean drama. I think there were too many cheesy/stupid comedic scenes for him. I found it entertaining though.
Peach Girl, 13 eps
Typical Taiwanese drama based on Japanese manga.
Mars, 21 eps
A lot of characters with crazy pasts and well, just crazy in some way. Aside from the romance-related parts, the whole drama essentially deals with uncovering and dealing with the past. A decent story though kind of slow-moving.
MISA (I'm Sorry, I Love You) - 3/5
Kim Sam Soon - 0/5 (K thought girl was too weird and violent)
Love at Aegean Sea (Qing ding aiqin hai) - 2/5 (Guy is too blah; non-main guy lead is good)
Monday, April 16, 2007
the importance of family
I was reminded of the importance of family today... I got calls from three of my cousins checking that D was ok. Physically, yes he is. And aside from the whole being 'shocked' that everything is happening right where he is, he's taking it all quite well emotionally as well.
Thank goodness he's not as empathetic and emotional as I am. I feel heavy-hearted and become teary-eyed just reading the news reports, especially the ones with eyewitness accounts. I could not imagine being on campus experiencing the confusion/chaos, being locked-down in class in a building adjacent to the unfolding horror, waiting for an update from the one person in class with a laptop and only connection to the outside world, or listening to friends talk about how freaky it was being in a classroom on the same floor as the rampaging gunman. Actually, I don't want to imagine it. It reminds me of the whole 9/11 thing where I had to stop watching the news because just listening to people talk about their lost families made me sad and depressed.
It's amazing the number of people who come out of the woodwork when something like this happens. Aside from the usual family and friends, he was getting messages from friends of friends of friends, people who went to the same high school but he didn't personally know, and many others.
And I'm as close to the 'action' as I'd ever want to get.
Thank goodness he's not as empathetic and emotional as I am. I feel heavy-hearted and become teary-eyed just reading the news reports, especially the ones with eyewitness accounts. I could not imagine being on campus experiencing the confusion/chaos, being locked-down in class in a building adjacent to the unfolding horror, waiting for an update from the one person in class with a laptop and only connection to the outside world, or listening to friends talk about how freaky it was being in a classroom on the same floor as the rampaging gunman. Actually, I don't want to imagine it. It reminds me of the whole 9/11 thing where I had to stop watching the news because just listening to people talk about their lost families made me sad and depressed.
It's amazing the number of people who come out of the woodwork when something like this happens. Aside from the usual family and friends, he was getting messages from friends of friends of friends, people who went to the same high school but he didn't personally know, and many others.
And I'm as close to the 'action' as I'd ever want to get.
Sunday, March 25, 2007
big basin redwoods & waterfalls
In a spark-of-the-moment decision, K said "let's go to big basin". ~10 miles of strenuous hiking to see 3 waterfalls. Especially after our trip out to San Pedro Valley park to see the anti-climatic Brooks Falls a few weeks ago, who was I to argue?
Driving in took a little over an hour, with more than half of that on very windy roads, and much of it less than two lanes. There were only a handful of cars going up the same time we were, which made us wonder whether we were missing some crucial knowledge. By the time we reached the park, it was a little past 1:30. We asked the park ranger where the start of the trail to Berry Creek Falls was. She warned us we were cutting it close, since it would be a six hour hike, and suggested we bring a flashlight. No flashlight in the car. Oh well.
We decided to go with the out-and-back route since it would be 10 instead of 11 miles. So, off on our merry way. We kept a good pace both ways. Going in was mostly downhill (which meant coming back would be great fun, of course).
The first of many duck-under-fallen-trees (or cross through fallen-tree-hole)...
The 4.5 miles of walk walk walk to the waterfall was indeed worth it...
K warned that we were really cutting it close on time, but I insisted taking the extra hour to see the other two falls. Cascade Falls, the first of three cascades...
No viewing platform, but that doesn't mean we didn't get close to Silver Falls...
Then it was walk walk walk another 5+ miles back to the car... mostly uphill... but we managed to keep a really good pace. Finished at 6:45. Five hours total; not bad if I do say so myself.
Driving in took a little over an hour, with more than half of that on very windy roads, and much of it less than two lanes. There were only a handful of cars going up the same time we were, which made us wonder whether we were missing some crucial knowledge. By the time we reached the park, it was a little past 1:30. We asked the park ranger where the start of the trail to Berry Creek Falls was. She warned us we were cutting it close, since it would be a six hour hike, and suggested we bring a flashlight. No flashlight in the car. Oh well.
We decided to go with the out-and-back route since it would be 10 instead of 11 miles. So, off on our merry way. We kept a good pace both ways. Going in was mostly downhill (which meant coming back would be great fun, of course).
The first of many duck-under-fallen-trees (or cross through fallen-tree-hole)...
The 4.5 miles of walk walk walk to the waterfall was indeed worth it...
K warned that we were really cutting it close on time, but I insisted taking the extra hour to see the other two falls. Cascade Falls, the first of three cascades...
No viewing platform, but that doesn't mean we didn't get close to Silver Falls...
Then it was walk walk walk another 5+ miles back to the car... mostly uphill... but we managed to keep a really good pace. Finished at 6:45. Five hours total; not bad if I do say so myself.
Saturday, March 24, 2007
If I were on travel, I'd take a picture of my lunch
When I first moved out here, I was meeting K for lunch at G almost every other week, fully taking advantage of his monthly guest allowances. But then the free good food novelty wore off; I went maybe a handful of times last year.
We ate at Pintxo yesterday, which sports small tapas-sized dishes. My lunch consisted of:
- Warm Frisée Salad with Duck Confit
- Mimosa Gazpacho with Orange “Mousse”
- Local Mishima Ranch Kobe Steak Tartare with Cornichon and Toast
- House Smoked Scallops with Avocado Mango Gelée
- Grilled Ostrich Pepper Steak with Crispy Potato, Sage Hash, Peppercorn Sauce
- Polenta Croquettes with a Soyrizo Tomato Coulis
- Watermelon Cake
- Fudge Brownie Trifle With Butterscotch Pudding, Walnuts, Chocolate Covered Strawberries
It was indeed yummy (and free!). I should start going more often.
We ate at Pintxo yesterday, which sports small tapas-sized dishes. My lunch consisted of:
- Warm Frisée Salad with Duck Confit
- Mimosa Gazpacho with Orange “Mousse”
- Local Mishima Ranch Kobe Steak Tartare with Cornichon and Toast
- House Smoked Scallops with Avocado Mango Gelée
- Grilled Ostrich Pepper Steak with Crispy Potato, Sage Hash, Peppercorn Sauce
- Polenta Croquettes with a Soyrizo Tomato Coulis
- Watermelon Cake
- Fudge Brownie Trifle With Butterscotch Pudding, Walnuts, Chocolate Covered Strawberries
It was indeed yummy (and free!). I should start going more often.
Sunday, March 4, 2007
reminder to self
Reminder to self: Don't read books that make you cry for a third of the book when you're already sick with a runny/stuffy nose.
Friday, January 5, 2007
home #2 for a few days
Yep, still the psychologist/listener for both my mom and dad, separately, of course. Sigh.
My dad is still swimming in the pool everyday (30-some degrees outside). D looked it up and apparently my dad isn't totally crazy... there are supposed to be health benefits to "winter swimming". He's lost over 20 pounds and no more big belly, so I guess I'm proud of him. Whatever works.
My mom is funky as always. Don't eat too much food that's been microwaved because the microwave sucks out all the nutrients (though she doesn't realize that simply cooking your food on the stove does this).
Lots of sleep... way over what I would need, minor jetlag, I think.
DDR... the hookup is still here from last year and my dad says he plays for a bit after he does his swimming. DDR on a big screen with pads that don't shift as you play... yay! R is crazy good now... well, much better than I am (probably even 'or ever was'). He usually plays on heavy with the extra option of arrows accelerated 1.5x when they approach the top of the screen. He also does pretty well on funky songs that have "non-arrows", i.e. you lose life if you step on the "non-arrow", or songs that require both feet and hands (no way to get all the arrows otherwise).
My dad is still swimming in the pool everyday (30-some degrees outside). D looked it up and apparently my dad isn't totally crazy... there are supposed to be health benefits to "winter swimming". He's lost over 20 pounds and no more big belly, so I guess I'm proud of him. Whatever works.
My mom is funky as always. Don't eat too much food that's been microwaved because the microwave sucks out all the nutrients (though she doesn't realize that simply cooking your food on the stove does this).
Lots of sleep... way over what I would need, minor jetlag, I think.
DDR... the hookup is still here from last year and my dad says he plays for a bit after he does his swimming. DDR on a big screen with pads that don't shift as you play... yay! R is crazy good now... well, much better than I am (probably even 'or ever was'). He usually plays on heavy with the extra option of arrows accelerated 1.5x when they approach the top of the screen. He also does pretty well on funky songs that have "non-arrows", i.e. you lose life if you step on the "non-arrow", or songs that require both feet and hands (no way to get all the arrows otherwise).
Wednesday, January 3, 2007
back stateside
Back in the US, or state-side as the Singaporeans call it. Home sweet home.
Jetlagged? Maybe just a bit... I shouldn't have stayed up until 5am last night and I should have remembered to open our blinds before I went to sleep. We both woke up 4pm-ish today... 8am in Singapore. Oops!
K immediately missed the Southeast Asian weather (especially since our house takes a while to heat up). I miss the heat and warmth, but not the humidity that accompanied that heat.
We won't miss the pollution or doing laundry by hand and waiting 24+ hours for it to dry. (I love my washer and dryer!)
We will miss the yummy cheap foods and drinks. Travellers' diarrhea hits something like 30-40% of travellers to the region. We were fully prepared with Immodium and pills prescribed by our doctor. But we were lucky... none of us had any stomach problems, not even just regular diarrhea. So no days without good food ^o^
We'll also miss the days of just running around and experiencing other cultures and living environments. 20+ consecutive days of newness everyday... ah, life will seem boring for a little while.
Jetlagged? Maybe just a bit... I shouldn't have stayed up until 5am last night and I should have remembered to open our blinds before I went to sleep. We both woke up 4pm-ish today... 8am in Singapore. Oops!
K immediately missed the Southeast Asian weather (especially since our house takes a while to heat up). I miss the heat and warmth, but not the humidity that accompanied that heat.
We won't miss the pollution or doing laundry by hand and waiting 24+ hours for it to dry. (I love my washer and dryer!)
We will miss the yummy cheap foods and drinks. Travellers' diarrhea hits something like 30-40% of travellers to the region. We were fully prepared with Immodium and pills prescribed by our doctor. But we were lucky... none of us had any stomach problems, not even just regular diarrhea. So no days without good food ^o^
We'll also miss the days of just running around and experiencing other cultures and living environments. 20+ consecutive days of newness everyday... ah, life will seem boring for a little while.
Tuesday, January 2, 2007
Day 25: Singapore => USA
8:30am. Wake.
Pack up everything and leave it with the front desk. Head out to city hall area, where we have kaya toast for breakfast... toast with a coconutty jam. I got a buttered one and K got a cheesy one. The toast also came with soft-boiled eggs, my first time having soft-boiled (or poached?... I can't tell) eggs.
Oh, before I continue with the day, I should talk about durians. Lonely Planet states - Malays believe durian is a powerful aphrodisiac; there's an old adage "When the durians go down, the sarongs go up"! I don't remember if we saw durians in KL; maybe we did but I was so overwhelmed with all the new surroundings that I missed them. Anyways, Singapore has durians. Durian popsicle (as well as other non-traditional-to-US-tastebuds flavors)...
Theater buildings on the Esplanade known as the 'big durians'...
But no durian in the subway (not sure what the penalty is though)...
Fort Canning Park, which used to be a fort with an underground headquarters during WWII. It's a pretty nice park. After walking around a bit, we go on a guided tour of the Battle Box, from where the British staged some of their WWII Singapore operations, also where General Percival made his decision to unconditionally surrender Singapore to the Japanese. Rooms were reconstructed to look like they did back then (complete with people statues)...
Pretty cool to stand in *the* location from which all those WWII decisions were made. And a quick specific history lesson.
We then grabbed lunch to go and went back to the hostel to get our things, 30 minutes late.
But, we made our flight in time and got to eat part of lunch at the airport.
The flight back went really quickly. K and I had to sit apart because apparently the travel agent booked our flights individually. Grrr. I slept for a portion and watched a few movies - Barnyard, Open Season, and Red Flowers (thought I should watch the first half since I only watched the end on the flight over... of course, I end up watching the whole movie).
Plane food is yummier than usual.
~ Trip End ~
Pack up everything and leave it with the front desk. Head out to city hall area, where we have kaya toast for breakfast... toast with a coconutty jam. I got a buttered one and K got a cheesy one. The toast also came with soft-boiled eggs, my first time having soft-boiled (or poached?... I can't tell) eggs.
Oh, before I continue with the day, I should talk about durians. Lonely Planet states - Malays believe durian is a powerful aphrodisiac; there's an old adage "When the durians go down, the sarongs go up"! I don't remember if we saw durians in KL; maybe we did but I was so overwhelmed with all the new surroundings that I missed them. Anyways, Singapore has durians. Durian popsicle (as well as other non-traditional-to-US-tastebuds flavors)...
Theater buildings on the Esplanade known as the 'big durians'...
But no durian in the subway (not sure what the penalty is though)...
Fort Canning Park, which used to be a fort with an underground headquarters during WWII. It's a pretty nice park. After walking around a bit, we go on a guided tour of the Battle Box, from where the British staged some of their WWII Singapore operations, also where General Percival made his decision to unconditionally surrender Singapore to the Japanese. Rooms were reconstructed to look like they did back then (complete with people statues)...
Pretty cool to stand in *the* location from which all those WWII decisions were made. And a quick specific history lesson.
We then grabbed lunch to go and went back to the hostel to get our things, 30 minutes late.
But, we made our flight in time and got to eat part of lunch at the airport.
The flight back went really quickly. K and I had to sit apart because apparently the travel agent booked our flights individually. Grrr. I slept for a portion and watched a few movies - Barnyard, Open Season, and Red Flowers (thought I should watch the first half since I only watched the end on the flight over... of course, I end up watching the whole movie).
Plane food is yummier than usual.
~ Trip End ~
Monday, January 1, 2007
Day 24: Singapore (Happy New Year!)
9am. Wake.
Today is Sentosa Island day... Singapore's "resort island".
We take the subway out to the harbor and then a cable car (skyride) out to the island. (We could have picked the cheaper bus option, but hey, it's vacation.)
Butterfly & Insect Museum... another example of Singapore having more money than Malaysia. Interesting insect exhibits and a really nice butterfly section (remember how I raved about KL's butterfly park?)! Something you don't see every day...
Manhead bettle...
Everything on Sentosa takes forever to get to. It's a big island where the island park map seems to show it being walkable, but things are in fact far apart and you have to ride one of the free long-wait buses. There's four bus lines - blue, yellow, red, green. Maybe the lines were crazy because it *is* New Year's after all. So, to get to each attraction takes at least 30+ minutes plus the waiting time in line to get into the attraction itself.
Lunch ended up being grab-n-go bread thing, a chicken burger, and a hot dog on our way over to the dolphin show.
The dolphin show was pretty fun... a couple of tricks we hadn't seen before... and if we had been prepared, we could have gone into the water and touched the dolphin (required getting wet up to your chest/shoulders).
I also bought a cup of corn to eat... steamed corn with salt & butter in a cup. Sounds kind of funny, but yummy... corn.
After the show, we got a little lost, well, went the wrong way, but managed to make it in time for the Animal Encounters show. K gets picked for the hawk landing on someone. The trainer asks for a woman, my hand shoots up, and I got picked, too! (K and I were sitting apart, he having moved due to a large ant convention on the seat area next to me.)
We then head to Underwater World, which is basically an aquarium, but they have this really cool tunnel thing with fishes swimming around and above you.
The best part was the sharks section of the tunnel - up close and personal with sharks [without fear of them bumping you] ^o^
Grab some sandwiches from Subway (!) and then head to the long line for the magical fountain show. The show ends up being something like Fantasmic at Disneyland... with the water movement + using water streams as a projection screen + some fire. I still like Fantasmic better though. Sentosa even has it's own monkey...
We make nearly the last cable car back, just a bit before 11. The cable cars at night...
Sleep. 1am.
Today is Sentosa Island day... Singapore's "resort island".
We take the subway out to the harbor and then a cable car (skyride) out to the island. (We could have picked the cheaper bus option, but hey, it's vacation.)
Butterfly & Insect Museum... another example of Singapore having more money than Malaysia. Interesting insect exhibits and a really nice butterfly section (remember how I raved about KL's butterfly park?)! Something you don't see every day...
Manhead bettle...
Everything on Sentosa takes forever to get to. It's a big island where the island park map seems to show it being walkable, but things are in fact far apart and you have to ride one of the free long-wait buses. There's four bus lines - blue, yellow, red, green. Maybe the lines were crazy because it *is* New Year's after all. So, to get to each attraction takes at least 30+ minutes plus the waiting time in line to get into the attraction itself.
Lunch ended up being grab-n-go bread thing, a chicken burger, and a hot dog on our way over to the dolphin show.
The dolphin show was pretty fun... a couple of tricks we hadn't seen before... and if we had been prepared, we could have gone into the water and touched the dolphin (required getting wet up to your chest/shoulders).
I also bought a cup of corn to eat... steamed corn with salt & butter in a cup. Sounds kind of funny, but yummy... corn.
After the show, we got a little lost, well, went the wrong way, but managed to make it in time for the Animal Encounters show. K gets picked for the hawk landing on someone. The trainer asks for a woman, my hand shoots up, and I got picked, too! (K and I were sitting apart, he having moved due to a large ant convention on the seat area next to me.)
We then head to Underwater World, which is basically an aquarium, but they have this really cool tunnel thing with fishes swimming around and above you.
The best part was the sharks section of the tunnel - up close and personal with sharks [without fear of them bumping you] ^o^
Grab some sandwiches from Subway (!) and then head to the long line for the magical fountain show. The show ends up being something like Fantasmic at Disneyland... with the water movement + using water streams as a projection screen + some fire. I still like Fantasmic better though. Sentosa even has it's own monkey...
We make nearly the last cable car back, just a bit before 11. The cable cars at night...
Sleep. 1am.
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