Happy birthday monkey! I'm glad you got a certain package in time :)
Lots of love,
Pemo <3 (<-this is supposed to be a heart for all you chat illiterate people)
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Ya I'm fine, why?
This one threw me off for the longest time, and still gets me :)
You know how back home, normal people say, 'hey, how's it going?' when they greet familiar faces? Well here, you say, 'hiya, you 'right?' (translation: hello, you alright?) and the proper response seems to be, 'ya, you?' As simple as that. My flat mates (the people who live with me on my floor) say that to me all the time whenever they see me, and it throws me off all the time. The first couple times had me clutching my face thinking 'ya I'm... fine, I think. Should I NOT be?' and making a complete fool out of myself, but now I've learned. But for all it's worth, I threw off all my flatmates by saying 'hey, how's it going?' None of them really knew how to respond to that either. Good times...
You know how back home, normal people say, 'hey, how's it going?' when they greet familiar faces? Well here, you say, 'hiya, you 'right?' (translation: hello, you alright?) and the proper response seems to be, 'ya, you?' As simple as that. My flat mates (the people who live with me on my floor) say that to me all the time whenever they see me, and it throws me off all the time. The first couple times had me clutching my face thinking 'ya I'm... fine, I think. Should I NOT be?' and making a complete fool out of myself, but now I've learned. But for all it's worth, I threw off all my flatmates by saying 'hey, how's it going?' None of them really knew how to respond to that either. Good times...
Monday, October 27, 2008
British English is so weird!
So I finally caved in and got some books for recreational reading, but some are just so hard to follow! At first I just thought the author had failed high school English or something, but after plowing through a couple volumes, I noticed it's a common trend among many different authors. So here's a few things that really bug me about British editing:
1. For example, if I were to say, "why hello, I just bumped into my friend and she said 'go away, I'm busy' and then stomped away into the mist," the British would say 'why hello, I just bumped into my friends and she said "go away, I'm busy" and then stomped away into the mist' The use of double and single quotes are backwards!!!! It throws me off.
2. They like to use the same word back to back all the time. For example, had had, has has, have has, been being are common phrases. I find myself backtracking all the time to make sure I'm not misreading anything.
3. The use of dead words is celebrated. Thus, I find myself reading things like; 'wow, that adventure was very fun!' and 'i like very big seashells'. Very invigorating.
4. Rather than explain something while it's happening, authors tend to explain an action far after its occurance. For example, commonly, an author will say 'such and such looked up' blah blah blah, talking about something totally unrelated, blah blah blah 'oh, and by the way, such and such looked up because she saw a cat in the window.' I feel blind.
But don't get me wrong, the plots themselves are ok. The editors are just very very british. Hm, I should grab a copy of terry goodkind or something and see if it's really just the editing or more just crappy authors who failed at effective creative writing. Happy reading!
1. For example, if I were to say, "why hello, I just bumped into my friend and she said 'go away, I'm busy' and then stomped away into the mist," the British would say 'why hello, I just bumped into my friends and she said "go away, I'm busy" and then stomped away into the mist' The use of double and single quotes are backwards!!!! It throws me off.
2. They like to use the same word back to back all the time. For example, had had, has has, have has, been being are common phrases. I find myself backtracking all the time to make sure I'm not misreading anything.
3. The use of dead words is celebrated. Thus, I find myself reading things like; 'wow, that adventure was very fun!' and 'i like very big seashells'. Very invigorating.
4. Rather than explain something while it's happening, authors tend to explain an action far after its occurance. For example, commonly, an author will say 'such and such looked up' blah blah blah, talking about something totally unrelated, blah blah blah 'oh, and by the way, such and such looked up because she saw a cat in the window.' I feel blind.
But don't get me wrong, the plots themselves are ok. The editors are just very very british. Hm, I should grab a copy of terry goodkind or something and see if it's really just the editing or more just crappy authors who failed at effective creative writing. Happy reading!
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Why thank you yes, I do speak English very well
So in all the computer confusion, I forgot to post about a rather funny conversation I got into with a cab driver. When I was heading to London last Friday, I grabbed a cab to the train station to catch the 12:30 train after class got out at 12:00. Ya, cutting it close, but hey, it worked out in my favor that time. But anyway, we're chatting about how I'm going to London, and how I'm an exchanged student when suddenly the cab driver says 'Wow, I'm impressed, your English is really good!' Ummmm... ooookaaaay? thanks? Apparently he had mistaken me for an exchange student from an Asian university. We had a good laugh over that one.
Let me explain, growing up in California, it took convincing for people to believe that I was even PART Asian, and then in Utah the attitude was 'oh, okay, I can see that' and then here to 'really, you're only HALF?' It's just funny how different the attitudes are here compared to back home. Here everyone only sees my Asian aspects, and back home most people focused on my Caucasion ones. Silly huh? But yes, I imagine that my English is very good. Thanks for noticing Mr. Cab Driver.
Let me explain, growing up in California, it took convincing for people to believe that I was even PART Asian, and then in Utah the attitude was 'oh, okay, I can see that' and then here to 'really, you're only HALF?' It's just funny how different the attitudes are here compared to back home. Here everyone only sees my Asian aspects, and back home most people focused on my Caucasion ones. Silly huh? But yes, I imagine that my English is very good. Thanks for noticing Mr. Cab Driver.
Aaaaaaaaaah my computer crashed!!!!!
Well, that about sums it up. Not sure why, not sure how, but my computer is currently under the weather ever since I updated it with vista's new service pack. So, off to vista's website to see if I can atleast turn it back on in safe mode or something and restore it to a previous version. Not cool at all. *grrrrrrrrrrr...
Friday, October 24, 2008
London take TWO!!
Sorry about the late update. My computer's wireless lan driver decided to completely vanish overnight somehow, so I've been doing all my online stuff at the library for the past while. Before I resort to actually calling customer support, anyone got any suggestions?
Okay, so unfortunately there'll be no pictures this round, but I'll post them when my computer's back up and running I'll get those up.
But, back to the good stuff. My totally awesome friends Michelle and Audrey (note back to the pancake party the night before I left) came up the England during their fall break and I got to hang out with them last weekend in London before they left. It was AWESOME!! So now, we had all already done the cheesy touristy things so we spend friday and saturday shopping!! (well, or atleast window shopping) We stopped at London's center of all shopping centers Harrods where we spend a good part of the day dreaming and admiring all the designer labels. They had pretty much anything and everything, from clothes, to furniture, you name it. That part was fun, but we were all more concerned with Harrod's FOOD center. It was amazing; cheeses, chocolates, olives, bread, jams, teas, pastries, sausages, seafood, you name it! And best of all, they let you sample everything! They even let you have whole chocolate truffles for tasters. Not just the kind where they get a truffle, smash it up, and give you a crumb, no, they gave you the whole thing! *drool... amazing. So we left Harrods with a good armload of chocolates, cheeses, and jams, and hoped they would last the trip home.
Perhaps the highlight of the trip, though, was Friday night's performance of Chicago! We got cheap reduced tickets at a place called tkts (note for anyone interested in taking trips to London any time soon, hint hint) and grabbed some half priced tickets in the nosebleed section and sat through an awesome performance that evening. The best part about London is that there are always tons of shows playing any night. On Friday there was Les Mis, Phantom of the Opera, the Lion King (which we wanted to see but they weren't offering reduced tickets), and a few others that didn't really catch our eye. Amazing. And, best yet, we found some great little hole in the wall sandwhich and falafal shops that were fantastic. Oh, and some gelato shops, too.
On Saturday, we stopped at shakespeare's globe (man, I really wish I could show you the pictures) and got a cool guided tour through the theatre and later wandered around the museum. The theatre itself was a modern recreation, but it was built exactly as it would have back in Shakespeare's day. It even had a thatched roof! After shakespeare, we wandered around Covent Garden, a cool market with tea shops, toy stores, and jewelry stands. There were always a ton of street musicians on the street, and most of them were actually pretty good. My favorite was a celtic string group that played a bunch of Irish gigs and whatnot.
Okay, the library's kicking me out now (can't use the computers past 7:30) but see you later!
Okay, so unfortunately there'll be no pictures this round, but I'll post them when my computer's back up and running I'll get those up.
But, back to the good stuff. My totally awesome friends Michelle and Audrey (note back to the pancake party the night before I left) came up the England during their fall break and I got to hang out with them last weekend in London before they left. It was AWESOME!! So now, we had all already done the cheesy touristy things so we spend friday and saturday shopping!! (well, or atleast window shopping) We stopped at London's center of all shopping centers Harrods where we spend a good part of the day dreaming and admiring all the designer labels. They had pretty much anything and everything, from clothes, to furniture, you name it. That part was fun, but we were all more concerned with Harrod's FOOD center. It was amazing; cheeses, chocolates, olives, bread, jams, teas, pastries, sausages, seafood, you name it! And best of all, they let you sample everything! They even let you have whole chocolate truffles for tasters. Not just the kind where they get a truffle, smash it up, and give you a crumb, no, they gave you the whole thing! *drool... amazing. So we left Harrods with a good armload of chocolates, cheeses, and jams, and hoped they would last the trip home.
Perhaps the highlight of the trip, though, was Friday night's performance of Chicago! We got cheap reduced tickets at a place called tkts (note for anyone interested in taking trips to London any time soon, hint hint) and grabbed some half priced tickets in the nosebleed section and sat through an awesome performance that evening. The best part about London is that there are always tons of shows playing any night. On Friday there was Les Mis, Phantom of the Opera, the Lion King (which we wanted to see but they weren't offering reduced tickets), and a few others that didn't really catch our eye. Amazing. And, best yet, we found some great little hole in the wall sandwhich and falafal shops that were fantastic. Oh, and some gelato shops, too.
On Saturday, we stopped at shakespeare's globe (man, I really wish I could show you the pictures) and got a cool guided tour through the theatre and later wandered around the museum. The theatre itself was a modern recreation, but it was built exactly as it would have back in Shakespeare's day. It even had a thatched roof! After shakespeare, we wandered around Covent Garden, a cool market with tea shops, toy stores, and jewelry stands. There were always a ton of street musicians on the street, and most of them were actually pretty good. My favorite was a celtic string group that played a bunch of Irish gigs and whatnot.
Okay, the library's kicking me out now (can't use the computers past 7:30) but see you later!
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Pictures of campus, and come to think of it, have I shown you the beach?
This time around, some pictures of campus and a walk through tour of the beach. Since yesterday was an absolutely gorgeous day (you get more of them than you think), I took the opportunity that evening to take a nice long walk. First, here's the main view of campus.
Then turn around and walk 20m to the main road
Then head onto the overpass. Looking east, you can kind of see the City Center (downtown) in the distance.
Down to the other side (this is a great little path by the way, it goes up and down the beach for miles so it's my favorite place to run!)
Then head up through the trees on your right
And voila! le beach...
I personally like the west view better. In the top left where the bay curves around south is Mumbles, that cute little town with the really good ice cream.
Keep in mind, this is high(er) tide. Wales actually has one of the largest tidal zones in the world, so when it goes out, it goes out around two miles! This is a picture on a different day, but this kind of shows you how far it goes out. Think the distance between us and the shore, plus another 100m.
The water isn't really THAT cold, but it's like San Fransisco. No one really goes swimming, but a lot of people just grab a ball and play sports, run, or just take a stroll down the shoreline whenever they get great weather like yesterday. At this area, there are a lot of sea shells and kelp, which makes it kind of hard to run around barefoot, but it sure is pretty!
But for now, back to campus! The blue building in the back is Faraday Tower, computer science headquarters (this scene's just off to the right of the very first shot)
Now walking up to the front of the long building closest to us in the first shot, turn right and we have about 60 percent of the buildings on campus (there are a few more behind me, but the sun was in my eyes, so none of the pictures turned out) There are more there than it looks
Walk down to that first pole and turn 90 degrees to the left. That unsuccessful attempt at modern architecture is my dorm. That should give you an idea of just how close I am to my classes :)
Well, that concludes our tour for today and next time, shops and cafes!
Then turn around and walk 20m to the main road
Then head onto the overpass. Looking east, you can kind of see the City Center (downtown) in the distance.
Down to the other side (this is a great little path by the way, it goes up and down the beach for miles so it's my favorite place to run!)
Then head up through the trees on your right
And voila! le beach...
I personally like the west view better. In the top left where the bay curves around south is Mumbles, that cute little town with the really good ice cream.
Keep in mind, this is high(er) tide. Wales actually has one of the largest tidal zones in the world, so when it goes out, it goes out around two miles! This is a picture on a different day, but this kind of shows you how far it goes out. Think the distance between us and the shore, plus another 100m.
The water isn't really THAT cold, but it's like San Fransisco. No one really goes swimming, but a lot of people just grab a ball and play sports, run, or just take a stroll down the shoreline whenever they get great weather like yesterday. At this area, there are a lot of sea shells and kelp, which makes it kind of hard to run around barefoot, but it sure is pretty!
But for now, back to campus! The blue building in the back is Faraday Tower, computer science headquarters (this scene's just off to the right of the very first shot)
Now walking up to the front of the long building closest to us in the first shot, turn right and we have about 60 percent of the buildings on campus (there are a few more behind me, but the sun was in my eyes, so none of the pictures turned out) There are more there than it looks
Walk down to that first pole and turn 90 degrees to the left. That unsuccessful attempt at modern architecture is my dorm. That should give you an idea of just how close I am to my classes :)
Well, that concludes our tour for today and next time, shops and cafes!
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
As promised, some pictures of my dorm
So finally, here are a few pictures of my dorm. It's great being on campus because unlike at the U, instead of having to take a bus from the dorms to campus, your classes are literally 100m away from the dorms. The buildings on campus are all jam packed together instead of having nice grassy areas between classes, which is both good and bad. Good because it takes 1o seconds to get from building to building, and bad if there ever was a fire. But it's raining, so I'll take pictures of campus for next time.
For now though, pictures of my dorm. I'm up on the seventh floor, which is nice because it's relatively quiet, but bad when the fire alarm goes off (at least once a day) and you have to trudge up and down the stairs. But I have my own bathroom, which is great! Everyone shares a kitchen which is nice because then I get to mooch off pots and pans from my flatmate Kerry, who, unfortunately is not present in the picture below. From left to right, we have my flatmates Berne, Emma, Emilie, and Siaphone (I'm not quite sure how to spell that one, but it's pronounced Sha-fon)
Next, my room. If you look carefully, you'll see a familiar face peaking out of the covers (yes, I brought her with me)
And, the jail cell view out my window
But on the bright side, my own bathroom!
But other than that, classes are going swell. I made a few changes so now I'm taking computer graphics II and a graphics lab instead of psychology and computability theory, but I'm still taking database systems and intro to ancient egyptian history.
By the way, for anyone who's interested, missionaries can now use email (honestly, about time!) and so Brandon Gibson asked me to post his email for anyone who wants to chat with him: it's Brandon.L.Gibson.FT@myldsmail.net.
For now though, pictures of my dorm. I'm up on the seventh floor, which is nice because it's relatively quiet, but bad when the fire alarm goes off (at least once a day) and you have to trudge up and down the stairs. But I have my own bathroom, which is great! Everyone shares a kitchen which is nice because then I get to mooch off pots and pans from my flatmate Kerry, who, unfortunately is not present in the picture below. From left to right, we have my flatmates Berne, Emma, Emilie, and Siaphone (I'm not quite sure how to spell that one, but it's pronounced Sha-fon)
Next, my room. If you look carefully, you'll see a familiar face peaking out of the covers (yes, I brought her with me)
And, the jail cell view out my window
But on the bright side, my own bathroom!
But other than that, classes are going swell. I made a few changes so now I'm taking computer graphics II and a graphics lab instead of psychology and computability theory, but I'm still taking database systems and intro to ancient egyptian history.By the way, for anyone who's interested, missionaries can now use email (honestly, about time!) and so Brandon Gibson asked me to post his email for anyone who wants to chat with him: it's Brandon.L.Gibson.FT@myldsmail.net.
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Where in the world are the drinking fountains?
I think my biggest annoyance here is the fact that there are absolute no drinking fountains. Anywhere. Not in the dorms, buildings, cafeterias. Absolutely nowhere. Where in the world are they? The dorms have clean drinking water, so I can deal with that, but elsewhere? Nothing. It may just be me being weird, but seriously, not a single one anywhere. I feel so deprived...
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