Surfing Day Two

I stood for 2 seconds on my surf board :p Does that count?

Today was much sunnier than yesterday. Still, according to our instructors the conditions were not the best for beginner surfers like us. :p I had fun though. There were a few really amazing people who were riding the waves.

I met a few friends who we might go surfing together next week. haha we'll have to see if I'll keep this up.

here are some photos of Mission beach before my camera battery 'died'.



My friend from the surfing class helped me take a photo of me looking really short and fat in my wet suit and with my beginner's surf board :p We'll wait for her to send it to me.

I Tried Surfing today!!!

This is my way of containing my excitement :> by posting on my blog. a bit sad right? haha but never mind.

I went to 1 of 2 of my surfing classes today (the next one is tomorrow!!! ahhhh...) We actually spent 1 and a half hours on theory, and half an hour learning some paddling and doing a swim test. I don't suppose we tried surfing at the beach more than 30mins? but man am I tired. I havent had such a good workout in a while. My back muscles and my arms are so complaining now. I hope I will be able to survive tomorrow :p

The waves were huge (to me) and they came one after another. I think someone said today was not the best day to surf. I'm quite proud of myself that I dint freak out actually. The ocean was cold and my muscles felt like they were screaming to get out of the water. It was alright after warming up and then you forgot about all discomforts and just focused on getting on that on-coming wave.

I dint manage to stand on my board (haiizzz) but at least I caught the waves a few times and it was a fantastic feeling having the water rushing beneath your board and you are just being pushed head long towards shore. Tomorrow we are going to have a 2 hour long session of pure surfing. My goal is to at least stand on the board once :p Going to be brave tomorrow and paddle out to sea (no matter how strong the waves), instead of striding out. If a wave comes, I'll do a 'turtle roll' (when you going under your board and turn your board back up after the wave has passed), then carry on. Then when I see a good wave, I'll sit on my board, turn round and ride the wave. haha this is my mental imagery of what will happen tomorrow. I'll let you know if it actually happens.

Drank a lot of sea water today. It don't taste that bad :p

oh... there were lotsa jelly fish :p moon jelly fish tickling us when we were doing the swim test in the bay

La Jolla Cove and the Seal Beach :>

I went with Liz (my supervisor) and Simon (her husband) for a walk along La Jolla Beach today to watch the sun set :p

150408 - the seals on seal beach

150408 - here's a cute one frolicking in the waves oops, he disappeared ;>

150408 - we thought we would not be able to see a decent sunset, but the clouds left as a bit above the horizon just to see the 'egg yolk' going down

Snippets of San Diego

hey hey, I got my memory card reader today. :p I think if I were to start this post with the intention of writing about what I did and saw the past few days, I would not be sleeping tonight. So I shall just post a few photos up and say a wee bit about them. Toying with the idea of going Hollywood this weekend. hehe we'll see we'll see.

080408 - Those white houses with the red roofs is where my house is. There's tennis courts, a pool and Jacuzzi!!! gosh I don't have access to such facilities back home do I? got to make good use of them.

100408 - Baked my 'special' easy chocolate cake for Irene's Birthday. My housemates loved it. The whole cake was finished by the next day.

I went to Balboa Park on the 13th of April, Sunday. It's the city park of San Diego boasting a collection of exciting museums, parks and the San Diego zoo. The area was the designated ground of at least 2 expositions in the 20th century that was to boost economic growth of the region.

130408 - The view of a canyon from the Rose and Cactus garden at Balboa Park. According to the park ranger, this is the natural landscape of San Diego. Sem-Arid

130408 - The Moretan Bay Fig. Look at the extend of the trunk

130408 - Pretty Roses for my mother :p

130408 - The Botanical Gardens with lotsa plants from all over the world in the greenhouse. An endeavour by Kate Sessions, a teacher turned gardener in the early days of BalBoa Park
130408 - Venus Fly trap I think; Beautiful flower, but deadly for bugs

130408 - San Diego was a 'new land' founded by Spanish explorers. Many of the buildings in Balboa Park are of Spanish-colonial style.

130408 - A wet Persian carpet?
130408 - The Spreckels Organ Pavillion; the BIGGEST outdoor organ in the world (I think). The organ was donated by the Spreckel brothers for the people of the world. So that the people of San Diego can enjoy music as people in Europe could easily have access to.
130408 - I stayed for a 1 hour concert there. In the hot sun. San Diego was sweltering on Sunday. 32 degrees celsius!!
130408 - the inside of the organ; 4500 odd pipes, with some as big as the ones below, and others the size of a pencil; it takes a total of 3 days for 3 people to tune the entire organ

130408 - there are the Snare drums and Chimes within the organ too

130408 - I went to the Model Railway Museum too. It was fascinating. All the displays were made by volunteers. They tried to re-create the landscape, railways, towns and villages back in the old days... The wild wild west :p In contination of the pipe organ theme, we have a miniature church by the railway with a pipe organ in it :p Remember, evertyhing in these pictures are little. The people in the pictures are the size of a nail (or even smaller).

130408 - The modellers do try to make this interesting by having scenarios like forklifts over-turning

130408 - The volunteers will also run trains within the models :> I tried to catch one in action.

130408 - Here's another one. This one carries lotsa goods like soya beans, petroleum, ply wood, etc.

Random facts for my dear Sister :)

1. Your child's name :p (Christenfeld and Larsen, 2008)

• surnames starting early in the alphabet are thought to be advantageous; in certain fields like economics, creators of multi-authored papers are not sequenced by their level of contribution, but in alphabetical order; in discussions by medical staff, patient surnames starting early in the alphabet also get more attention than those names later in the alphabet (Singh, et al, 2006)
• unfortunately, Stephen's surname starts with 'S' and our family name starts with 'K', so you can only do something about his/her first name :p ; apparently, Not giving daughters 'common and old-fashioned names may enhance your little girl's claim to be young and exotic' ;> easier to find a life partner; giving sons 'common and historically popular names may signal that the boy is mature and established
• with regards to giving your child a christian name; sadly, there is an implicit form of racism observed for names that indicate 'whiteness' and names that indicate 'blackness'; this has been demonstrated in organizations' reponses to job applications (Bertrand and Mullainathan, 2004)

2. this second bit is what I picked up at the Infant vision lab today ;>

• if buying toys for when the baby is 1 month old, avoid pastel colours; only saturated colours are visible to the baby at this age
• I think its by 24 weeks, the foetus is able to detect light from outside your abdomen; haha something to try with your baby and a torch light

Might send you more random facts soon. Take care babe :p

[Day 3] La Jolla Underwater Park

I woke up at 8am this morning. I debated with myself about going for a jog and finally stepped out of the house, into the sun, at 9am :> I thought I'd jog to the beach and back. I set off with US$2.20 in my jumper pocket just in case I needed to get the bus back.

My house is just on the junction of a very busy road. Not the best for jogging I would say, but I had to run along that road before I reach any nice jogging areas. I checked out googlemap before I set off, but things always look closer than they are on these maps. I mistook the road Liz took me on, as Torrey Pines road, and thus embarked on a long journey in search of the coast.

The roads in San Diego are really scary or its just that I jog along the roads that I should not be jogging along. Torrey Pines only has a pavement for pedestrains on one side of the road, which of course was not the side of the road I was on. I did not realize that until I entered the stretch of the road that had a unsurmountable road divider in the center of the road. By that time, there was only lush green vegetation on both sides of the road and no houses in sight. I felt pretty uneasy about being stuck on the seemingly endless road where I only had a little bit of the side of the road to go on. I carried on and finally reached a more populated area with houses, a school and lotsa people.

The search for the coast was still difficult after I emerged from Torrey Pines. I jogged into a residential area and ran towards the palm trees and the little bit of ocean I could see. Unfortunately the whole beach in that area is owned by a country club which I of course could not access.

I carried on, feeling more determined to find the beach, the more time I spent searching for it. I then saw a sign that read 'public access to ocean'. Unfortunately, it was a little pathway in between some houses that led directly to the sea. No beach, just the sea. But I could see a really nice coastal area from there. I quickly went on my quest. There were other joggers on the road, so I thought I could not be far off from a nice beach.

Finally, I saw a sign that said 'Coast'. I jogged into the side-road with excitement. The scenery that engulfed me was nothing like I had imagined.

It was beautiful. The blue sky and the deep navy sea. Seagulls chirped as they soared over the winds. The waves threw themselves on the rocks, to an upbeat rhythm. I looked across to the neighbouring cliff and spotted a path that led to the next headland. On the face of the cliffs I could see many sea bird perched on there. I could also see an amazing-looking patch of white rocks past those cliffs. I totally regretted not bringing my camera along. There were many houses lined along the coast and I thought how lucky those residents are to enjoy this view everyday.

I went on the path, and little did I know I had entered the La Jolla Underwater Park. I walked over to the cliffs I had watched from a distance and was not prepared to see all the different kinds of wildlife that was there. There was a little squirrel running over the rocks, close to where I was standing. There were not only Sea-gulls and sea birds, but huge Pellicans grooming themselves on the rocks. These were the white rocks I saw and a close up look made me realize that there was a possibility the white 'paint' on those were Pellican waste. This idea was reinforced by the smell of bird poo and salt in the air. I saw a family of seals looked on, as some of their family members frolicked in the sea. There was so much life around me I was taken aback.

I walked on along the coast till I reached a little park where there was lotsa people going down to the beach for scuba-diving, kayaking and swimming. There were restaurants and cafes all around. I had a nice stroll on the beach before heading back home. I definitely would want to come back here again. Perhaps not on foot the next time :p

The journey back was long and tiring. I saw the bus stop for the bus service that goes to my house, but could not cross the road to get to the bus stop. I walked further along the road, hoping to find a crossing and find the next stop. When I finally crossed the road, I could not find another bus stop. So I decided to walk home.

By the time I got home, I had jogged for 50 mins to the beach, strolled for 1 hour along the beach, and walked for 1 hour 20mins back home. Not bad as an activity on a Sunday morning I guess.

New Friends :> [Day 2]

(this is me again, trying to write as much posts before I start getting busier next week :p
also, if you haven't noticed, I've started to put in names of the people I know. think now its much better than keeping people anonymous)

After 2 days of being on the recieving end of other's kindness, I met some more really nice people today. :) I had a more proper introduction and chat with John and Will (who I just met today). John is a personal trainer and vegan, and is going to read Kinesiology (the science of human movement, according to Wikipedia :p). Will is a computer science graduate and currently works at the University.

Irene, Will, Will's friend Allan and I went supermarketting in the afternoon. Allan is also a psychology graduate and will be doing optometry in the Sep. We went to a lot of faraway supermarkets which I will not be able to get there easily without a car. sigh... it's true what everyone says. One without a car in the U.S. can be very restricted in where one can go. Irene's really nice and said that she goes to the Chinese Supermarket every 2-3 weeks and that I am welcome to join her on the trip. We had a lot of fun chatting in the car. While I still felt quite lost in everyone's American accents, they were so inclusive that I felt really comfortable with them.

I went with Irene and her cousin Mina to dinner at a Korean restaurant in the evening. We went to a little shop which does neo-print and have those machines in which you turn a knob to get a little toy. Irene and Mina persuaded me to join them in getting a little handphone toy, which I have fixed on my handphone :p. They got pooh bear ones, while I got Emile from Ratatouille. We then adjourned to have dessert at Yoghurt world, the most fantastic place to have yoghurt of many different flavours and toppings. We then went to meet Will and Allen at a pool place. I tried my hand at the game after so many years of not playing. haha no improvements in my shots but no deterioration either. I feel blessed :p I had a really enjoyable evening.

At 11ish, I had to leave Irene and Mina to finish the movie we were watching on Irene's laptop. Could not keep my eyes open. I had a shower and got into bed by 12am.

So long Sheffield, Hello San Diego... [Day 1]

(hmmm maybe too exaggerated a title. I'm coming back to Sheffield, don't you worry ;> )

I will remember the day in Sheffield, before I left for San Diego, for a 5 month research stint. Amidst the frantic packing, I managed met up with some of my Psychology friends at CREAM (a very nice cafe in Broomhill Sheffield) and had a gathering with my Singaporean, Malaysian and Chinese friends. I was staying at Renie, Huiyiang, Kimberley, Davinder and Yih Chyn's place and the gathering was spear headed by Yih Chyn. I was slightly worried about having to rush here and there to meet up with people and get myself organized for my journey to San Diego, But everyone was really sweet and helped me in everyway they can so that the evening would be smooth going. We left the house at 5ishpm to have an early dinner at noodle inn. I deposited my luggage in David's car. After dinner, David and Kimberley sent me to the train station, while the rest of my friends walked down to the train station to send me off. They waited with me for the train and stayed till I got on the train. My heart was all warm and fuzzy when the train moved off.

It was a long and tiring journey to San Diego. I reached Manchester airport at 9.30pm, and had to wait for my early morning flight to London Heathrow airport. I then got on the flight from London to San Francisco. The view from the plan was amazing. We flew over the north atlantic ocean and passed over Greenland. I could see all the ice-bergs on the deep blue ocean (unless I was hallucinating). The view when we flew across U.S.A. was even more breath-taking. I could see the snow capped Rockies (again speculation, think that's what I saw, according to the map). Right before we landed in San Francisco airport, the waters of San Francisco bay glistened in the sun. The plane landed smoothly, and I was on American soil...

It was another short wait before I hopped on the the connecting flight to San Diego.

I had not thought about what to expect when I got to San Diego. The change from the British accent to the American accent was definitely the most remarkable difference. While the scottish accent is still the accent I like to hear most, I would rate the sounds and rhythms of the american accent as one of the top accents that could make me so captivated, that I would forget to process what people are saying.

Liz came to fetch me from the airport. We stopped by the supermarket and got some groceries, had dinner, and she gave me a night tour of the University campus. It was really nice having a familiar face show me around my new home for the next few months. :) She dropped me off at my new accommodation and made sure I was alright before she left.

The Chinese couple who owns the house was really friendly. They helped me with my bags and 'auntie' even gave me a bowl of green bean soup. I met their both their sons, John and Justin, who are also living in the house. I also met Irene, my next door neighbour, a very cheerful and out-spoken 3rd year Biomedical Science major. She 'chirpily' invited me to join her for supermarketing the next day. :>

I turned in for the night and had a much awaited good long sleep.