another New Year!

I'm having a WONDERFUL time at home. I'll get to see my extended family (about 45 of them) this weekend for the Lunar New Year celebrations!

Since getting back, I've mostly been getting over jet-lag and a bad cold; EATING A LOT; and slowly getting back into contact with my old friends. I hit the libraries after the New Year. (I've only been reading one of the few books I brought with me from the US.)

final NYC adventure

Last stop in NYC was the UN, where I met up with Yang Laoshi (Chinese prof at Bates) and his wife. Here we are in the General Assembly. Yang Laoshi's wife is an interpreter at the UN so it was really fun to be able to go where regular tourists could not go. I saw the booths where the interpreters did their jobs, sat in the Malaysian UN delegate's chair, and walked right up to the podium in the front where all the fancy buttons and mikes are. The seat of power, ooohhh . . .

Yang Laoshi's wife also had great stories to tell. Apparently, sometime in the last week or so it rained so hard the roof started leaking in the General Assembly (I know, can you imagine??!!). Water started dripping on the French delegate's head, and he looked up and said, "What have I done to deserve this?"

Sorry, it was funnier when Yang Laoshi's wife told it. I'm not really good with funny stories.

Whan in April the shoures soote (sp??)

During my weekend in NYC, I also managed to meet up with Ms. Milstein, who claimed we hadn't met up in years. I did miss her wedding about a year and a half ago, but that was only because it was at about the same time as Kiat's wedding in Kuala Lumpur and they didn't have port keys or magic buses then.

Sara said I've mellowed! I couldn't tell how serious she was though. I think she thinks I'm still pretty hyper.:):)

Sara and I took Chaucer together in college, and we had to recite the first 15 (or was it 18??) lines of the Canterbury Tales in order to pass the class (can you imagine?!!), so we did our recitation together. I think we got through it without giggling. Maybe.:)

I can only remember the first three lines now, and only on my good days.

cicf in ny . . . and nj

Jennifer and I met up with Mike and Onimisi at their apts in New York City and New Jersey, and we can both attest that their mothers and sisters have done a fabulous job of training these men.:):)

Sorry, girls, Mike's already taken, but Onimisi's still available, I think!!!!!

Jennifer picked out a dress for me while we were speed-shopping, and when Onimisi saw it, he went: "BWAW, HAW, HAW, HAW, HAW, HAW, HAW . . . "

But that's okay, because he then added: "I'm sorry, I think Sze Wei's a little too conservative for that."

Since my own response was a look of horror, his laughter was was welcomed. I'm afraid all attempts to turn me into someone fashionable or trendy, or anything less than unimaginative and boring, is a very lost cause. :(

Rushil's wedding

It never ceases to amaze me how people who have so little in common can be such great friends. Besides the fact that most of us are international students who graduated from Bates, our lives really are very different, but we talked the night away, as if we haven't been apart for years. Thanks, Rushil and Luna, for getting married and giving us an excuse to get together for a Bates Reunion.:) I saw a few people I hadn't seen in about 9 years! (They were second-semester seniors my first semester at Bates.)

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

I got in 7am, January 18, and am horribly tired and jet-lagged. I'm not on the US sleep cycle, but neither am I on Malaysia's sleep cycle. And I can hardly tell what day it is. It also doesn't help that the time on my computer is still set to Ithacan time.:)

The last 2-3 weeks at Cornell were really fun because I was mostly playing and seeing people. Why can't it be that way more often at Cornell?? But I guess it'd be harder leaving Cornell then.:) I actually found myself having mixed-emotions about leaving the place--that took me a bit by surprise.

More posts/pictures on my weekend in NY coming up. Had a ton of fun seeing old college friends, some of whom I hadn't seen in years.

cat-napping

Kate on the left, Jade on the right.


Sleep problems continue, but with different variations. If I weren't so paranoid about turning into a hypochondriac, I'd think I have a sleeping disorder of some sort.

Last night, I dreamt that while I was at my grandparents house, I was "attacked" by friendly looking cutesie dogs who kinda chomped down on my leg (didn't hurt) and wouldn't let go. I tried to lock the big gate on them, but I don't think I ever got rid of them. Then after that I was plagued by "live" toys that I could not get rid off even though I eventually chopped them all up and sent the different parts away (they came back, all of them).

This afternoon, I finally succeeded in taking an afternoon nap, but then I started dreaming that I was visiting Jade and her girlfriend Kate in their loft. When Jade and Kate weren't looking, I popped Kate's cat into the oven and turned it on. "Luckily" it wasn't actually Gilmore in my dream (it was my IVCF staff worker's daughter's cat, Princess!!) , but still!!

In my dream I was convinced this would be a real treat for us all until I fell asleep on Jade's futon and started realizing in my sleep (I'm dreaming about dreaming now!) that Kate would be really upset. I was absolutely pressed down by guilt until the moment I woke up from that nap and could tell myself over and over again that I didn't really put a cat in the oven.

Those thirty sleeping pills the health center prescribed are starting to look real good now.