Thursday, October 26, 2006

sorry i havent been updating!! i have been busy with an assignment for my indigenous peoples module. it constitutes 20% of my grade so i cant afford to slack on this. bah. it has certainly dampened my holiday mood significantly:( boohoo. but come next tue and i will be a happy girl again:)

::some brief updates::

LSLAP & an upcoming trial!!
i just came back from LSLAP. i am pretty excited coz i am gonna do a trial!! the case is about spousal abuse. unfortunately, i will be representing the husband who abused his wife:( sigh. i am totally against domestic violence but i guess everyone deserves to be represented/have a voice in court? i will just be objective. afterall, i do have a duty to the court as well;)

magic-cooker with love
the other half's mum bought me a magic-cooker and got their family friend (who was coming to vancouver) to bring it over to me!! i got it yesterday! yayy. how sweet of aunty:) and much thanks to their family friend (who is incidentally mr tan c hee meng, a partner from harry elias partnership) for bringing the big pot all the way to vancouver from singapore for me!

even though i am so far from home, i feel very much loved - by my family, the other half's family and my friends as well! yes i still call back home twice EVERYDAY. haha. i still feel homesick but it has been getting better everyday:) their love and support have been keeping me going for the past 1+ month!! thank u so very much!!

anyways for the benefit of those who don't know what a magic cooker is, it is actually a special pot that would be able to keep the food warm for hours! meaning that..if i boil the pot of food and turn off the fire, it would be still be able to retain the heat in the pot at that high temperature for hours.

it came in especially useful today coz i was able to enjoy my steaming hot veg+chicken+tofu soup (which i cooked before i left the house) once i got home from LSLAP at about 9+. heh. what a great invention!! i will probably need to get daddy's advice and recipes to improve on my cooking though;) heh.


ivcf worship and yummy homemade apple pie
yesterday was ivcf's fortnightly large group meeting! it was my 1st time serving on the worship team and it was the 1st time that our worship team played together w/o any help from others. really thank God that everything went smoothly without any major hiccups;) the people in the worship team are really awesome!! they are ever so warm and supportive! they have so much positive energy in them and it always feels great to be in their company!

it's amazing how God always provides!! even though i didnt bring my guitar from home - steve (ivcf staff-worker) was more than willing to lend me his son's yamaha fg-460s accoustic guitar (which sounds great btw!!:)). i am quite lousy at tuning my guitar - but there were the pitch-perfect charis and dav who helped me with it! the ivcf keyboard wasnt working too well - then michelle (another singaporean who is taking her masters in social science in ubc - met her in church) suddenly told me she just bought a keyboard and that she was thinking of helping out in some worship ministry here! it is such a pity that she has classes during our ivcf gatherings. but she has kindly agreed to lend her keyboard to us whenever we need it:) as matt (a belgian exhange student who's a fellow ivcf-er in the worship team and incidentally my neighbour) puts it: whatever laura wants, laura gets it!! haha. but seriously - must thank God for everything so far!

the message preached was on being the salt and light of Christ. it reminded me of vcf back home coz it's lawvcf's mission statement! it was an evening of good message, good food (veg+potato stew and yes i must gush about julia's yummydelicious home-made apple pie which i took extra helpings!! aaah) and good company:)

alright i ought to get back to my assignment!! yikes!! more updates on last weekend later:)

last fri was jon's bday dinner. the bday boy begged us to make pineapple tarts for him so sulynn and i acceded to his request:) haha. working under time constraint, we just took a random recipe from the internet - so we were quite worried whether they would turn out nice?!!

baking at sulynn's place - sulynn and i hard at work..

the fruits of our labour! yayy - they look good right?:) we made everything from a scratch!! really proud of us:) sulynn shredded the pineapple fruit itself, for the pineapple jam and i made the pastry with flour and other mega fattening ingredients! heh. but they look sorta deformed coz we didnt have the mould for the pastry:( bah. oh and i added too much milk powder into the pastry so it was more like pineapple milk tarts! oops. but jon and everyone at the party said that they were delicious so i guess they werent too bad?! heh;)

xiaohui n angie came from kingston to vancouver 2 weeks ago! it was such a pity that i wasnt around over thanksgiving and i was kept busy with lslap - thus i cldnt really bring them around much. i feel so bad:( but im glad they managed to cover so much ground when they were here - in fact, they have been to more places than mich and i. haha. good thing i managed to meet up with them for dinner and -gasp- doughnuts (again!!) on thursday:) haha. we 4 girls suddenly had cravings for doughnuts so we spent abt 45mins walking around in the cold to find a tim hortons! heh. nothing can stop us!!



xiaohui and i - at tim hortons!! i had a double chocolate doughnut and a cup of hot chocolate! sinful mega chocolate overdose - but i love:) it was really fun catching up on the latest happenings in law fac - how nostalgic! it has been a very long time since we had such sessions! heh.



angie and me! it was great having xiaohui and angie over:) wished they had stayed longer though!

outside the bc law courts - who dares to mess with us?!

last tue, my indigenous peoples class tutor, june very kindly invited me (and my class) to a potluck that she was hosting to welcome first year indigenous ubc law students to law school. by indigenous, i am referring to persons whose ancestral roots are embedded in the lands in which they live in, or had previously lived in. something like the bumiputras in malaysia. at the gathering, i met alot of indigenous students and lawyers who devote their practice to defending indigenous peoples. it was such an eye-opening experience!! oh yes. they was even an indigenous group elder who spoke to us briefly on the developments in indigenous peoples' rights in the world. i didnt know that indigenous claims is quite a big market here in canada. in british columbia alone, there are about 35 indigenous groups. btw june is an indigenous person as well;)

i was deeply impressed to see how indigenous people have overcome all odds and are still surviving - despite how much the government has marginalized and discriminated against them (boo!!!). it is unbelievable how such injustices can be perpetuated in the name of economic expediency. lands and resources are freely taken away from indigenous peoples to give way to free trade/economic arrangements/activities. it is not surprising why most indigenous people are now living in poverty. from my interaction with the indigenous people at the gathering, i was greatly moved by their 'kampong' spirit (i.e. unity) and sheer determination in their quest to fight for their own rights. because of limited and inadequate channels that exist in the domestic level, indigenous peoples are now bringing their grievances to the international platform - which is exactly the focus of my indigenous class module. haha. now im more inspired to do my readings. haha.

on a lighter note, the potluck was fantastic! june's 2-storey terrace house is really quaint and beautiful:) the food was even better! haha. there were so much food!i especially enjoyed the meat loaf and turkey! yummy! but my dad's turkey is still the best:) heh. there were alot of dessert as well. chocolate cake, muffins, pumpkin pie. i simply couldnt resist! because it was potluck, i cooked green bean soup - but too bad it wasnt too well-received by the people who attended the gathering. the foreigners are probably not used to this sorta food i guess? but june, nicole (my classmate who is an exchange student from switzerland) and a few others really liked it:) they were especially impressed when i told them green bean soup has a detox effect. i hope i didnt give them the wrong info?! haha.

myself, nicole, june and 2 other indigenous students (whose names i forgot) - with the ravaged turkey! heh

june's son, chess and me! he's such a huggable cutie pie - and he's very smart too! he even managed to beat a first-year ubc post grad law student at memory game! woah.

day 3
today was our designated shopping day!! we went to the columbia gorge premium outlet, which was located off portland, in troutdale. after a 45mins drive, we arrived at 10am - which was exactly the time the shops opened! haha. needless to say, we were the 1st customers of the day!

no surprise why im looking so happy:) we went crazy in the gap and levi's outlets. but it was a pity that we had to rush through the shopping, coz we had to leave portland by 3pm! that was probably why we couldnt buy much! we also went to the columbia and nike factory outlets..i managed to get a nice thick purple jacket w fur at columbia for USD$25! it is my best buy here so far:)

as u can see, we had to rush through our lunch by eating in the car - just to accomodate our shopping schedule! haha. we went to a bk drive thru. in the us, the mushroom swiss is called shrooms & swiss! the beef patty is about twice the size of that in singapore!

we reached seattle at around 8pm! we headed to crab pot for thanksgiving dinner! it was absolutely omg-fantastic!! it can be counted as my best meal here so far:) we had alaskan crabs, lots of mussels, prawns, clams, corns, potatoes - all baked to perfection!! even though there werent any seasoning, the seafood tasted so good coz they were so fresh! definitely a must-try for all those who are visiting seattle!


crab pot is located by the wharf - great food, great scenery, great company - what more can 1 ask for?:)

all ready to dig in!! jon looks scary here though. haha. the hammer and fork were our only eating tools! how barbaric..

sulynn trying to hammer poor david. haha.

the sumptious spread! they just threw all the seafood on the table like that! and then we just took whatever we wanted from the pile of seafood before us. haha. what a way to eat!! see the cups of yellow sauces? they are actually liquid butter. it really blends very well with the baked seafood:) yummydelicious!

by the time we were done with dinner, it was already 9+! we decided to walk along the wharf before heading back home to vancouver!!

4:04 PM

day 2 (part 2)
we spent the rest of the day just walking around and exploring the city. portland (as t name suggests) is a port city. that is why there are so many bridges around! here's one that we walked across..

the centre portion can rise up - to accomodate huge ships coming in!

more bridges and downtown portland..

we had dinner at portland's famous haunted pizzeria - old pizza town restaurant. during the 1900s, hundreds were kidnapped and enslaved through trapdoors from the shanghai tunnels before. it was even featured as one of oregon's most haunted places in a haunted tour guide to the pacific nw!

creepy atmosphere- look at the eerie red lighting and old brick wall. there were so many mirrors everywhere! madness. but they definitely contributed to the effect! we had the house special pizza which was really good - yayy to cheese galore! and to top it up with caesar salad and a pint of stella artois! yummy!

we headed back to the hostel and we drove to all the places which we werent able to cover -namely, the many parks with a bird's eye view of the entire portland, the pittock mansion, the rose garden as well as the gay-friendly colorful district of hawthorne (which really traumatized the guys. haha).

3:27 PM

Saturday, October 14, 2006

day 2 (part 1)
we arrived in portland the night before. the hostel (bed+shared bathroom facilities) turned out to be better than expected:) the place was pretty clean and the rate was quite reasonable as well - USD$45 for 2 nights accomodation. sulynn and i were lucky to have our own 'room' partitioned from the rest of the other girls!

our residence for the 2 nights in portland - HI northwest portland international hostel and guesthouse!

sulynn and i in our 'room'. i slept on the top bunk! it was really freezing at night - this was despite the fact that i wore my thick jacket, long pants and socks to sleep - and was under 2 blankets! madness!

in the morning, sulynn and i awoke earlier coz we wanted to attend church. all thanks to me and my lousy direction sense, we lost our way and missed the service at 9am! we did find our way there in the end - but we were too late so we had to wait for the next service at 11am! in the meantime, we just explored the area!

the quaint sidewalks in portland's residential area

can you see the sign "alphabet district" above "nw davis st"? in portland, shops are lined up according to alphabetical order - e.g. apple shop, banana cafe.. etc. how interesting and organized! this would probably make it easier to locate a particular shop i guess?

chancing upon a law office in the middle of nowhere?!

the saint mary's cathedral of immaculate conception - the church that sulynn and i went to. sulynn managed to find a catholic church nearby our hostel so i just accompanied her (i am a christian btw;). it was very nostalgic to attend mass again - it reminded me of ij days where masses were held in school at every celebratory occasion! the architecture of the church was really beautiful, adorned with pretty stainglasses and intricate details all around.

after church, we went to explore downtown portland!

one of the best things about portland is that there is free public transport within the downtown area (see- fareless square) - yayy! and they do not have sales tax!!

the weather was really bad though. it was raining and very windy. even though i was wearing a thick jacket, all buttoned up and covered, i was still freezing:( bah.

we had a very good lunch at this greek restaurant! they have the BEST pitas!! pita is something like highclass roti prata - with fillings like chicken, beef or sausage? we shared calamari and i tried the gyros classic pita with chicken+ greek salad. sorry no pix of the food coz we were too famished! eat first, anything else later. haha.

our next stop was the famous portland sunday market. apparently, it is the nation's largest weekly open air arts and crafts market! there were rows and rows of stalls selling handcrafted artwork and homemade food (think - fudge and jam!! yummy).

creativity galore!! a pair of spectacles can be made out of spoons and forks?!?

the pride/treasure of portland - its people! isnt it the same in singapore as well (or so they say)?

the pseudo-tram-bus-train public transport in portland!

jon and me taking refuge in a cafe - with hot cuppa - coz it was v cold! i felt so much better after the hot drink!

shopping time! at pioneer place - saks 5th ave. this is quite an upmarket shopping district, lined with tiffany's, LV, gucci..haha this wasnt quite the place for us to shop - prob in a couple of years' time i guess? heh. for now, we just gotta to settle for the malls;) haha

here are some interesting signs on the wall along the streets!

10:39 AM

Thursday, October 12, 2006

day 1 (part 2)
after seattle, we made our way to mount st helens - an active volcano (which supposedly is due to erupt anytime!) located in washington. we drove up to the highest observatory station, the johnston ridge observatory which was approximately 4,500 feet above ground and about five miles from the volcano! it was a childhood fantasy come true! when i was younger, i was always very interested in extreme weather phenomenons - i always dreamt of witnessing an active volcano erupt or chasing a tornado. haha. as sulynn puts it, im crazy. haha. but yes, i guess this is the safest/closest thing i can get to fulfilling my fantasies;)

the road up was so deep into the mountain range - that the gps couldnt detect the roads (see - it's all blank)! as u can see, i am very fascinated by the gps. haha.

enjoying the breath-taking scenery - as we drove up!

it was really a very long long long drive up to johnston ridge observatory! we took about 45mins to drive up!

finally reaching the top!! it was really freezing up there though!

it was so cold that all four of us had to wear our hoodies - not that it helped much though. haha

the uber fresh air, the awe-inspiring view of mt st helens and the scenery beyond made the long long journey worth it:) too bad the clouds were hovering around - that was why we cldnt get a good view of the whole volcano:(

the view from the top - the surrounding mountain ranges! it's scarily high from here!!

the live specimens of (the now hardened) lava which erupted from mt st helens back in 1980!

oh no - am i in trouble!!?


enjoying the beautiful sunset as we drove back! i didnt manage to take a photograph of the actual sunset though - coz my cam had no battery:( bah.

1:24 AM

seattle/portland (6-9 oct 06)

it was an awesome thanksgiving weekend! i had a great time in seattle and portland - really enjoyed the travelling, experiencing new cultures, meeting people and of course enjoying the yummydelicious food everywhere we went;) heh. really must thank God for watching over us the past few days:)

day 1
in the unearthly hour of about 7am, jon came to ubc to pick up sulynn, david and myself! we wanted to set off early coz we expected a jam at the us-canadian border! in the end, we got stuck there for about 45 mins - which is already pretty fast! the last time jon and sulynn came, they had to wait for about 2hrs! madness! of course we made use of the waiting time to photowhore! heh.

at the us-canadian border!

the pillar that marks out exactly, the us-canadian border - sulynn is standing on us soil while i am on canadian ground! heh.

the comfy ride - jon's merc suv! haha. the journey was so smooth than i didnt get any motion sickness even though i was reading in the car! :)

yayy. we have arrived in us:)

in good spirits - david and i at the backseat

the global positioning system is such a wonderful invention - it ensured that we didnt get lost:) it was cool seeing how it could track and mark out the fastest route to ANY destination and it would give verbal directions like "300m away, make left turn", "1km away, right turn". yup u get the point;) haha. look at how steep the roads are in portland!

our 1st stop was the experience music project - a music musuem, which houses countless of exhibits tracing the vibrant history of seattle's music scene. its famous jimi hendrix showcase was really impressive! i didnt know that jimi hendrix was that big?!? haha. another cool feature was their soundlab section, which allowed us to get behind the instruments (violin, drums, piano, organ etc) to learn the basics or just play them! i even tried dj-ing!! it was quite fun;)

the shapes of the guitars are so exotic!! there's even one in the shape of a cross!! i wonder how it would be like to play them? anyways they must cost a bomb! this is the ONLY photo i could take of the exhibits coz it was on display at the ticketing area! the other exhibits were much more impressive but it was a pity they didnt allow us to take photographs of them:( bah.

this is a fundraising box to "keep the music alive" - calling people donate to support the acquiring/maintenance of exhibits for a particular genre of music in the museum - so far, "rock" seems to be in the lead? why am i not surprised?

the multi-colored, metallic, irregularly-shaped exterior of the musuem - is quite outstanding among all the other nondescript buildings around it!

the space needle - which i felt was abit overrated. nevertheless, it is really tall and is certainly a distinctive structure in the seattle skyline;)

my favourit-est place!! yayy!!

there were so many different kinds of cheesecakes!! just give me a slice of ANY cheese cake and i will be a very happy girl:)

the absolutely sinfully delicious omg GODIVA chocolate cheesecake!!

the drool-worthy strawberry cheesecake! yummy!

the blackout cake aka very chocolatey cake! heh. as its name suggests, it totally knocked us out! haha.

all of us - very satisfied after our pizza and cheesecakes:) the food and ambience were just great! heh. but it was a MEGA calories-overloading affair!! yikes!! but it was totally worth it - every bite of it! :)

12:23 AM