I am so bored at work! I have absolutely nothing to do! I wish that they would just give me something…anything! I don’t even have Internet access! I am reduced to writing my blog entries from work! Ahh!

Thank God for my cousins and the weekend! Life would be so monotonous without them!

This weekend, we went down to Edmonton, a 3hr drive away, the capital of the province of Alberta and its second largest city. Its other claim to fame is that it holds the largest mall in Canada, and the second largest in North America. It holds under its roof a whopping 800 stores and services, including a full water park (at least 1000 square meters in size), an aquarium with real life submarines that you can ride, a full size pirate ship, an indoor rollercoaster ride, a cinema complex, 2 mini golf courses and an Imax.

Spent half the day at the water park. Took most of the rides there, including one where I went airborne and in which I lost my glasses. The ride had to be stopped while my cousin and I searched for them. It took us all of 3 minutes to find it but by that time, the crowd up there was huge! How malu is that! Haiz!

Went for a round of glow in the dark mini-golf after that before having dinner at the foodcourt and heading to our hotel to watch the ice-hockey game.

Next day, went down to the heritage park in Edmonton. It’s a great place with tons of stuff to see. It gives you a real appreciation of what life there must have been like from when Edmonton was a fort, to times not so long ago. We went back to the hotel after that, and the kids went swimming while I hit the gym. :p

Went for a huge dinner after that! I still feel bloated from it now! I had clam chowder, Caesar salad, Lobster coated salmon, rice and sweetened warm Canadian apples with cold vanilla ice cream on top generously drizzled with caramel sauce. Heavenly!

Following dinner, we dropped Nannudi back at the hotel (she’ll be there for 3 days) before heading back to Calgary. Lovely ride back. The kids watched chicken little and muppets from outer space while Jason and I just chatted and laughed. Great trip!

Gonna really miss them when they go to Hawaii on Sat. But they really need the break and I hope they have tons of fun! 

pics will be posted later

Came back from a half hour jog and my shirt was still dry. Its so nice to jog in 20 degrees of humidity free weather.

Of course, there are days like tuesday when I went to the gym in nice 20degree weather, cycling down in my shorts and singlet. And 1.5hrs later when I come out of there, the temperature had gone down to 8degrees... and it was super windy... Froze my butt off getting back home. :p

And the rest of the people got their pay today. Its CRAZY how much interns can make here in a month. Almost 3000 canadian a month! Thats 4200 sing a month!

Sian! :p

Monday really was a great day!

Morning started by me waking at the unusually early time of 9am. This is much earlier than the usual 11 am and 1pm that I had been waking up the preceding two days. After breakfast, I went out to the driving range for 2hours of hitting a small yellow ball as far as possible with as much control as possible. Sometimes my shots were pretty good… most of the time though, I would take an almighty swing, look out into the distance to look for the ball, and then realize that the ball is still at my feet. I had missed completely! It happened with enough frequency that I got used to it…which kinda sucked! It was still fun though. I can totally understand why Alvin is so addicted to this sport.

Jason meanwhile, had taken the kids to the river and, using our inflatable boat, had taken them river rafting. It was their first such experience, and though they were apprehensive at first, they really got hyped up after. Think they enjoyed it tremendously. Nannudi and I went to pick them up downstream, then went to pick up the car at the parking lot at their start point. We had our lunch there too…which was a small disaster as they kept losing our orders or mixing them up, resulting in a super long lunch, and the kids were hungry. Still they didn’t complain (they are amazingly well-behaved) and the food, when it did arrive was good.

After the kids rafting, it was supposed to be my turn with Jason, but I wasn’t too keen. It looked like a really bad storm was coming in from the mountains and I did not want to be caught out in the middle of a river when it hit. The kids also needed to change into other clothes as they wanted to play mini-golf, so we decided to go back home.

On going home, Jason asked me whether I wanted to go rock climbing instead of rafting.

Hell yeah! So while the kids went to play mini golf with the kids, I went with Jason to pick up his friend Mark, before heading to the Calgary Climbing Centre for my first stint at rock climbing.

Now I’m terrified of heights, but there is something very special about rock climbing. You know you are harnessed in but that doesn’t stop you from feeling a bit of vertigo as you look down on the way up. Yet, going up that wall, you feel focused but relaxed. You joke and laugh with the belayer even as you reach for the next hand hold or foot hold. Tried to climb four faces, but succeeded only in 3. Still, I was quite satisfied, seeing that it was my first time climbing. Should do this more often.  Eventhough I am aching in some places I never knew muscles existed.

Came back to a dinner of prawn curry and rice. Watched the sunset outside, and spent time looking at the mountains and the flowers. The setting sun can sometimes seem to set the trees aflame. Its magical, because after the sun sets, the trees are still there, like the mythical phoenix, born again from the ashes of its predecessor.

I finished the day by doing some ironing, watching southpark and the dave chappelle show(hilarious), and doing some reading (I’m reading Guy Gavriel Kay’s the Lord of Emperors, Book 2 of the Sarantium Mosaic). A very different yet enthralling fantasy book, one that’s become a page turner. Below are some of the photos of the day, and of previous days.




The pretender...



and the expert climber...



Down the river...



The calgary tower viewing platform



The golf idiot getting ready...



The golfball after the golf idiot took the swing



View from Calgary tower



The flaming trees

Did quite a few things so far this long weekend...and its not even over yet! Went for an Indian classical concert (Jagjit singh) with my cousins, which was simply superb! The guy's voice is amazing! And the lyrics of his songs, those I could understand anyway, were to die for. He sang in Urdu, which is very similar to Hindi, and he sang a type of song called a ghazal. This is a very poetic form of music, not easily sung(well). During some of the songs especially, he put his life experiences into the lyrics and you could almost feel the emotion...the hurt and the loss that he himself went thru. While I could not really understand the language, I could understand him.

And his instrumentalists were given free reign as well. They played some amazing stuff. In a form called sawaal-jawaap, which I had only ever known by reputation before: where one instrument will play a short musical stanza(akin to asking a question) and another instrument will have to respond within a specific set of musical guidelines(give an answer). The sitarist, the tabla player and the keyboardist all got into the act, and they played faster and faster and faster, until their instruments created a shimmerring soundscape that left us all enthralled. The company was great too! Tipuda has a terrific sense of humour, and we were just making ironic comments and laughing away at almost everything. We really had a great time. By the time we came home it was 1230am.

Next day, I woke up at one. I had a splitting migraine when I first woke up at 730, so I decided to take a panadol, pop 2 gelusils, and go back to sleep. This remedy only partially worked: My head felt heavy the rest of the day. Jason had also finsihed the fence by the time I woke up, so that pretty much left me with nothing to do. So I went out to them, took out a few field chairs and the three of us (Lorne, the neighbour) sat down and began to chat. We were joined by nannudi and Denise(jason's mum). Later, we went to buy dinner( and I bought me a new pair of running shoes, which I then proceeded to test out straight away...I love jogging here!). After a dinner of hotdogs, grilled fish, barbecued yam, roasted capsicum and corn, we proceeded to another neighbour's house, where we sat out in the yard, with a stove in front of us in the chilly evening air, a glass of warm wine in hand, and chatting underneath the stars while the kids played on the trampoline. Jason and I joined in too, ocassionally, eliciting screams of terror from them. :)

On the way back, as we walked over to our house at night, looking down at the city below from the top of this hill, a memory came to me... of another hill in another continent, where I told someone one of the other reasons for coming here. If that person is reading this...its not working. Guess I was wrong.

Been looking for this poem for a while now... The melancholy appeals to me.Especially the last three lines.
So much meaning behind so simple words
Profound hidden beneath the plain


Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

By Robert Frost(1874-1963)

There is something very relaxing about doing household chores. Be it ironing your clothes, making tomorrow's lunch,washing the clothes or dishes, or even helping to build a fence around the backyard, there is something distinctly calming. The repetetive motion, rather than being monotonous, soothes. You tend to follow a rythm, a beat that only you can hear, and you feel at peace, and time flies by.

Had a rather interesting weekend. It was short...especially since I slept half of it away (literally). Aside from the usual jogging and gym, I also went to Munnudi's house, and to the Calgary Tower.

Munnudi's house is opposite nannudi's house,on another hill on the other side of the expressway.Sound near? Well, it isn't. Its a half an hour drive, along a road that hugs the hillside. And the hill is way higher than ours. Though it faces away from the mountains, it gives an AMAZING view of the city at night...a swarm of fireflies as far as the eye can see... a sea of amber lanterns stretching from horizon to horizon. Spectacular.

She was having some friends over for a barbecue. When she said some, I really wasn't expecting tht many. There were at least 25adults and 15 kids. Thats a lot of peopleto cook for, and munnu di and tipu da(her husband) both work. turns out that she used to stay up till late just to cook for the party on saturday. The food was amazing!

The house was fantastic too! Its huge! I only saw a bit of it, but what I saw was enough to impress me. looks to be 3000 sprawling square feet per level at least...possibly more, excluding lawn and driveway.

Was there till 1030pm that day.

Next day, went downtown to Calgary tower. Its a 525 feet tall tower offering a panoramic view of the city and its skyline, all the way to the rockies. took some good photos which we'll show later. Best part of the tower was this one section where the floor is made of glass, and it offers you a birds eye view straight down to the ground below. You feel kinda freaky. You know its perfectly safe but you still feel a bit queasy stepping out. Especially when the kids next to you start jumping on the glass! But its kinda cool...you feel a bit like superman.

Best part about the trip though were the kids. I became Rohit's seatbelt on the train ( we took a train from within downtown...its faster that way, and the kids haven't ridden the train in a while). Rohit would come up to me and say" Arpan mama, I need the seat belt on!" at which point I would hug him close to me and he would snuggle up against me.Felt really nice for some reason.

From the mouth of a child.

I was just sitting at the front of the house looking at thesun setting over the mountains when my five year old nephew comes up to me and says "What are you looking at?"

"The mountains" I replied.

"Beautiful aren't they? You know sometimes, when you live here long enough, you kinda forget how beautiful it is... sorta take it for granted. But the beauty is still there... you just don't see it." He said.

Blink blink.

I am so tired today! I kept waking up last night, think I woke up a total of 4 times I think, I kept thinking that I overslept, so I would wake in a sort of panic, only to check my watch and realize that I had a lot more time and that I could sleep a bit more. This did tire me out though, and as a consequence, I did oversleep! I woke up at 610 when I should have been up by 550. Luckily, as per usual practice, I always keep everything ready for the next day, and hence, though I had to skip my bath, I still managed to leave for work on time at 640. Though we have flexible hours here (meaning we can come to work anytime from 7-9 am, as long as we work the required minimum 8.5hrs a day), I did not want to make my cousin late for work (she had a meeting at 7, and she drops me to work).

Work’s been pretty good so far. I am learning quite a bit, and I am using things I learnt in school this past sem, like soil investigation reports, foundation design and compaction calculations. I am also doing things that I have no idea about, like sewer design. Conditions and codes are very different from Singapore, due to the different types of soil and environmental conditions here, but my supervisor is pretty good and encouraging. He spends quite a lot of time explaining things to me. The work culture here is definitely more relaxed then in Singapore: Although the deadlines are still there to be met, the people go about things in a more controlled, efficient manner. Also, there’s a long weekend almost every alternate week, thanks to the extra half an hour worked everyday( you’re actually required to work only 8 hrs a day, but by working 8.5, you accumulate the half hour, so that you can take the extra day off after 2 weeks).

Unfortunately, as a result, today was also boring. I was one of 6 people who were here to work today, and 3 of those just left (including my boss). The rest were out enjoying their extra day off. Ah well…next well is another long weekend: its a public holiday here on the 22nd. Think its Victoria Day or something. So not long to wait before my first holiday working in Canada. 

Weather here is pretty changeable. In the mornings, the temperature is anywhere between 0 and 6 degrees, sometimes, on unusually warm days, it can even hit a sweltering 8degrees! :p It changes in the afternoon to about 13-18 degrees. Which is a very comfortable temperature. The air is dry, Relative Humidity being only about 70%, and there is a constant wind blowing. However, things can, and often do change drastically without almost any notice. Last Tuesday, when I went to watch my little niece play soccer, it was a nice sunny afternoon, warm enough that I didn’t really need to wear my jacket. Yet, 10mins into the game, some clouds came in, the wind picked up and within literally minutes, I was left with my Jacket fully buttoned up, and my teeth actually chattering (and loudly too), and feeling like some human Morse code machine! Sun sets around 9-10pm at night, and has usually risen by 5-530 in the morning.

Lunch has been sandwiches bought here from the food court downstairs. Its expensive to eat out here, with the least that I have spent for food being $4.20. GST is a whopping 7%. Will be making my own sandwiches from next week onward.

I also joined the University gym here. Its 8 min cycle from my cousin’s house, and is pretty well equipped. Cost 53.50 Canadian dollars for use till beginning of July, after I convinced them that I was a Singaporean student (Otherwise, it would have cost a massive $75 per month!), which I did using my drivers license. Went for my first work out session last night and it felt SOO good! Also went jogging the night before, and I can tell you, honestly, that this has to be the most scenic cross country route that I have ever been across. The route involves running on a ridgeline, overlooking a river and with a clear view to the Rockies beyond! I’ll try to take some pictures and post it up when I can.

In the meantime, here are some pics of my Cousin’s house and the views from it, as well as soccer practice for my nephew and niece. Hope to be cooking this weekend. Treat (hopefully not poison) my cousins :p . Also have plans to go for an Indian classical concert, learn to play golf, go skiing, and hiking in the mountains. Dunno how many of that will actually happen though. We’ll see 

[May. 8th, 2006|06:41 am]
Its monday morning here...640 am to be exact. I leave for work in 20mins. Some how, I managed to wake up at 5am local time. Surprising cos 1)I didn't sleep till it was 130am and 2) I didn't use an alarm.

Yet, I should have expected that considering that I woke up at 4pm local time yesterday... and having slept at 1am local time, it means that I was asleep for 15hrs! Thats like the longest I have slept in more than a year!

Another of my cousins came to visit me with their family yesterday. So good to see them! We laughed and joked for 2hrs, had pizza for dinner and played with the kids (who have grown so much since the last I saw them!). They are, however, amazingly adorable!

Got an amazing view from the house. Its on top of a hill, and you can see the rockies in the distance. The lights from the buildings below at night make it seem like theres a valley full of amber fireflies below. Very pretty!

Would show you guys picture but...unfortunately...i didn't bring the correct adapter for the plugs here, and my batteries are flat. Will post them once I get them...which, hopefully, will be today. :)

Just another random fact... its about 20degrees in the afternoon here.... and it goes down to 6 in the evening and early morning. Sun sets at about 830pm local time, and rises at 530 am

okok...i really gtg... i leave in 5mins! Mustn't be late on my first day at the job! :)

Ok. So I am in Calgary now. 25hrs and 3 countries after I left Singapore, here I am, in Canada. A long, but thankfully, a largely uneventful journey so far. However, for the sake of this blog, I will point out the more interesting points and observations.

1) You need to know the route of your flight well before hand. I always thought it was direct from Sing to San Fran, but nope! Its via Korea. And I was soo surprised to find that out…especially since I was halfway TO KOREA before I realized. I was wondering why there were so many Koreans on the flight! Going into that terminal brought back a sense of déjà vu, from the time I was there 2 months ago. Nothing’s changed, everything thing is still in Korean, even the wireless connections which I was intending to use to update my blog. I also realized late into my flight that I can access the internet from inside the plane. If I had known that earlier, maybe I could have chatted with you all on MSN, and not have been so bored. By the time I realized that such a facility was available, it was uneconomical to do so( yes…you have to pay! USD$9 for the 1st hour, 14 for the 2nd hour onward, or USD$26 for unlimited usage for a 24hr period.

2) I was disappointed with the service that SQ provided, especially from Korea to San Fran. The usual standards just weren’t there. Yes the plane was full, with quite a few demanding passengers, but still, you’d expect the trademark service with a smile, but this time, I felt that they were more aloof, and, in some cases, almost rude.

3) However, and I have to admit, the stewardesses were prettier, and the better quality eye candy made up for the lack of service… well…almost anyway. :p . Special mention goes to the Korean stewardesses. Having been to Korea, I can say that they were far above average looking ( I suspect that they might have gone under the knife…and if they have, they are a testament to the skills of their surgeon…hmm, maybe I should go there :p) , They also spoke good English.

4) Be careful who you sit next to. My co passenger was nice, but he had this disconcerting gaze. And he kept looking at me in the weirdest way. I would fall asleep , and when I woke up, I would see him gazing at me. It was quite freaky. He also had this annoying habit of coughing ON me. Oh well…what to do!

5) Also, bring along a spare set of earplugs. A large number of young kids can be quite irritating, especially when they start to cry. Its almost like they are trying to do Pachelbel’s Canon, only in wails! First one starts, then another from a different part of the aircraft would join in, till the aircraft echoed with cries. Dolby Surround in the most annoying way possible.

6) Just because a flight lands early does not mean that you WILL be early. The flight landed 15minutes ahead of time. However, due to the boarding ramp being otherwise occupied, I eventually got off the plane 1 hour AFTER the scheduled arrival time. To compound my problems, I was given the wrong immigration form, which meant I had to stop to fill up the correct form before I could queue up for immigration in San Fran, and because of the delay, we had to queue up with ANOTHER flight, meaning a major queue.

7) Then, I HAD to pick a trolley with a lopsided wheel that tended to veer to the left. And while my ticket said Air Canada, the flight was operated by UA. While the Air Canada terminal was right next to the international arrivals, UA was diametrically opposite… and NO one told me! So I walked with a defective trolley, all of 600+ m, and then realized that there was a shuttle train which I could have taken! YAY!

8) Watched 1 movie(the longest yard) , and 4 tv shows(2 episodes of Becker, 1 episode of scrubs and 1 episode of House…yes, all medical related tv shows). The movie was great, and the TV shows were hilarious. Extremely funny! Becker and House I liked before anyway, but Scrubs was new, introduced to me by a certain med student from Melbourne. Thanks Wen! It is funny! Predictable, but funny anyway. I liked it!

9) The plane from San fran to Calgary was delayed due to mechanical trouble. Now that is NOT something you want to hear. That the plane you will be boarding has mechanical trouble. Kinda scares you. But board we did, and the view from the plane was spectacular. The rocky’s are SOO amazing! And the ground…wow. It was a small 50 seater plane, but it captured the “feel” so much better than a jumbo ever could. Can’t wait to go hiking! And when we were above the clouds, looking out of the window was seeing a sea of white criss crossed with rivulets of blue and green, stretching to infinity, ending at the feet of a golden sun.

Really captured the imagination.

Ok… need to sleep now. Really tired for some reason.

So i leave home in 3 and a half hours
I'm missing it already
Gonna miss this place...my family and friends.

See you guys in august!


P.S.
I think I am turning Clairvoyant. What I predicted in my blog came true. 2 and a half hours of hell, followed by a mad rush. Went to Wala Wala's with my uni friends on thursday night(great band with awesome music, and terrific company) ...then did some packing...

Went temple today with mum, followed by last minute shopping, and grocery shopping, then lunch At Buona Vista (amazing XO noodles), gym, medical appointment( doc says i'm perfectly fine now...yipee!), Fetch dad, and some more last minute shopping, and packing. Set up msn accounts for my parents, adn installations of webcams and other software into PC and Laptop.

Time to sleep now :p

Last paper tomorrow... 2 and a half hours of hell, followed by a (possibly)whirlwind 36hours before I fly.

Can't wait.