Try cycling uphill....
You know how that feels right?
Try cycling uphill a mountain!!!!!
My legs feel like jelly now!!
But it was definitely worth it. The view you get from cycling is totally different from the one seen through the window of a shuttle or a car. Just imagine, the wind howling into your ears, the trickling sound of melting snow, birds chirping and calling out to one another, in addition to the magnificent view of the mountain afar and valleys beneath the road you stand on.
Emily, Samantha and I cycled downhill towards Reflection Lake - they continued to Cougar Rock for campground calling, whilst I took uphill towards Paradise. It was stupidity on my part for wanting to give myself a physical challenge, but I made it!!! I know I'll be suffering the after effects of aching thighs.. but heck~ haha
That won't be the last time I'm cycling down and uphill again, simply because I love it too much despite the strenuous leg exercise!!
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
The Firsts
Wow... I really had a fabulous time today. I had many firsts! Named that title after Rebecca's suggestion (another good friend that I met here).
1. First time white-water rafting
2. First time seeing the Osprey's nests (perched high on top of tall, dead trees) while catching glimpses of its young from afar
3. First time seeing a crescent moon right in the afternoon (it's whiteness blended nicely with the clouds)
4. First time seeing shooting stars
5. First time seeing 4 shooting stars in one night
6. First time seeing the milky way
And these are just some of the firsts that I experienced today.I'll be blogging more later in just a while - need some rest and seriously in need of a HOT HOT HOT shower.
From the extremely awed,Erica
1. First time white-water rafting
2. First time seeing the Osprey's nests (perched high on top of tall, dead trees) while catching glimpses of its young from afar
3. First time seeing a crescent moon right in the afternoon (it's whiteness blended nicely with the clouds)
4. First time seeing shooting stars
5. First time seeing 4 shooting stars in one night
6. First time seeing the milky way
And these are just some of the firsts that I experienced today.I'll be blogging more later in just a while - need some rest and seriously in need of a HOT HOT HOT shower.
From the extremely awed,Erica
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Kautz Creek
Yay... I did another hike on Friday!
KAUTZ CREEK
I thought it would be an easy hike, but apparently the latter part of the trail was really tough and very steep.
At least I got good exercise. :P
As usual, going down was rather scary because of the steepness, and we had to rush to catch the shuttle. Going up took 3 hours, going down took 1 hour... Oh yeah, I fell on my butt because of the slippery rocks... And my right hand has this awesome bruise now from supporting my fall! I'll be taking a picture for it.
My body has been aching for two days now (after the hike) but damn I feel good about it!!
Oh well.. Just to update you with what I've been doing for the past two days..
Friday night - Played 'Catch Phrase' with friends... Some people can be game freaks...
Saturday night - Watched a true crime TV show and had forkfulls of fudgy chocolate cake.. Oh boy.. that was really good.
Seeya in a month's time,
Erica
KAUTZ CREEK
I thought it would be an easy hike, but apparently the latter part of the trail was really tough and very steep.
At least I got good exercise. :P
As usual, going down was rather scary because of the steepness, and we had to rush to catch the shuttle. Going up took 3 hours, going down took 1 hour... Oh yeah, I fell on my butt because of the slippery rocks... And my right hand has this awesome bruise now from supporting my fall! I'll be taking a picture for it.
My body has been aching for two days now (after the hike) but damn I feel good about it!!
Oh well.. Just to update you with what I've been doing for the past two days..
Friday night - Played 'Catch Phrase' with friends... Some people can be game freaks...
Saturday night - Watched a true crime TV show and had forkfulls of fudgy chocolate cake.. Oh boy.. that was really good.
Seeya in a month's time,
Erica
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Typing Outdoors
"Aaaaahhhhhhhh....." (That's how I'm literally feeling right now)
What a beautiful day... spending time with friends, walking all the way to the nearest Ashford town from the GSI office (approx. 2 miles).. visiting quirky shops, using a dirty 'porta-potty', then getting a free piece of big, fat and juicy pie with 2 scoops of vanilla ice-cream (uuuummmmmm YUM!)... and more walking!
And these are the simplest pleasures in life :)
How I pray for more off-days with my friends/schoolmates/roommates!! Despite all the work and 'little-play' that we do, I felt immense gratitude towards God and my pals for all the exploration and walking in that little town of Ashford.
Not to mention... white-water river rafting next Tuesday!!! And I'll be watching an actual American football match this coming Sat (one of our dormmates' playing for a local team in the city of Tacoma and he invited us!)... Can't wait for the rowdiness :P
I wish I could feel like this every other day.
What a beautiful day... spending time with friends, walking all the way to the nearest Ashford town from the GSI office (approx. 2 miles).. visiting quirky shops, using a dirty 'porta-potty', then getting a free piece of big, fat and juicy pie with 2 scoops of vanilla ice-cream (uuuummmmmm YUM!)... and more walking!
And these are the simplest pleasures in life :)
How I pray for more off-days with my friends/schoolmates/roommates!! Despite all the work and 'little-play' that we do, I felt immense gratitude towards God and my pals for all the exploration and walking in that little town of Ashford.
Not to mention... white-water river rafting next Tuesday!!! And I'll be watching an actual American football match this coming Sat (one of our dormmates' playing for a local team in the city of Tacoma and he invited us!)... Can't wait for the rowdiness :P
I wish I could feel like this every other day.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
The Cliche of Time
I'm sure everyone has heard of the phrase,
"Time passes really quickly"
That's what I'm feeling now... Life is full of cliches. It's been more than 1 1/2 months since I left home for the Paradise I'm living in now. Truth be told, I'm not feeling homesick at all. I absolutely love the nature that allows me to embrace all my senses, unlike in Singapore (it's an overly crowded city full of rudeness).
Okay... That sounded really mean. I love Singapore, I still love the city. But once you've experienced the 'forbidden fruit' of nature, it gets to you. Can you imagine waking up every morning, only to stare into the beautiful blue horizon, with mountain ranges layering each other far and wide. And when you go hiking or just by simply walking along the roads, you see natural formations of waterfalls, rocky cliffs, the rivers and its meanders, and my favourite, the wildlife - grey foxes, red foxes, deer, the blue grouse, Steller's Jay (punky little bird with blue feathers), the hoary marmot (beaver-like animals that perch themselves on rocks.. very fat too)... oh yeah, and I saw a mother bear crossing the road with her two cubs.
Sigh. I know I'll miss being here once I leave on the 23rd of July. I'll miss the friends that I've made - Emily, Rebecca, Shelbi, Carrie, A'lan, Deannafe, the two Ryans, Flora, Ann, Faizal..... and the list goes on :)
I just spoke to my aunt from England yesterday. It was nice to hear a relative's voice - Thank you for calling me! Who knows, maybe I'll fly to England, London next year... Trip to Europe! It's tough being a person who wants to know about culture so much - that's because you know you'll be spending too much money on travelling. I just don't want to read about another country or to hear about it from the television (especially global travellers who go around searching for food!!!!) I need to experience it for myself, like what I'm doing now.
Anyways, here's all for today,May Yue.
P.S. Will be going white-water rafting next Tuesday!!!! And will be visiting an American friend's home (Emily) from the 14th - 15th of July.
"Time passes really quickly"
That's what I'm feeling now... Life is full of cliches. It's been more than 1 1/2 months since I left home for the Paradise I'm living in now. Truth be told, I'm not feeling homesick at all. I absolutely love the nature that allows me to embrace all my senses, unlike in Singapore (it's an overly crowded city full of rudeness).
Okay... That sounded really mean. I love Singapore, I still love the city. But once you've experienced the 'forbidden fruit' of nature, it gets to you. Can you imagine waking up every morning, only to stare into the beautiful blue horizon, with mountain ranges layering each other far and wide. And when you go hiking or just by simply walking along the roads, you see natural formations of waterfalls, rocky cliffs, the rivers and its meanders, and my favourite, the wildlife - grey foxes, red foxes, deer, the blue grouse, Steller's Jay (punky little bird with blue feathers), the hoary marmot (beaver-like animals that perch themselves on rocks.. very fat too)... oh yeah, and I saw a mother bear crossing the road with her two cubs.
Sigh. I know I'll miss being here once I leave on the 23rd of July. I'll miss the friends that I've made - Emily, Rebecca, Shelbi, Carrie, A'lan, Deannafe, the two Ryans, Flora, Ann, Faizal..... and the list goes on :)
I just spoke to my aunt from England yesterday. It was nice to hear a relative's voice - Thank you for calling me! Who knows, maybe I'll fly to England, London next year... Trip to Europe! It's tough being a person who wants to know about culture so much - that's because you know you'll be spending too much money on travelling. I just don't want to read about another country or to hear about it from the television (especially global travellers who go around searching for food!!!!) I need to experience it for myself, like what I'm doing now.
Anyways, here's all for today,May Yue.
P.S. Will be going white-water rafting next Tuesday!!!! And will be visiting an American friend's home (Emily) from the 14th - 15th of July.
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Head Banging
Oh yeah... I'm extremely accident prone.
Within the first few weeks of staying here, I suffered from sprained ankles and really itchy rashes..
And just last night, as I was about to make a call to Eveline (good ol' buddy), I hit the back part of my skull really hard on the telephone. And just naturally, the tears came flowing... And almost immediately, a really noxious bump formed on the back of my head. I think it was about 2 cm high... not exaggerating at all, cuz when my friends felt my head, they measured that much with their fingers.
The pain was unbearable for the first few seconds, but my friends kept telling me to massage my head (you have to, otherwise the bump will never go away and it also helps to prevent blood clots). I think they were very worried about me because the position and size of injury was in a rather risky zone. But thank God that I had a dormmate who knew how to deal with such bumps and massaged my head with 4 hard boiled eggs!
Thank God too that I didn't wake up feeling dizzy or nauseous (signs of internal injury), but I'll still be monitoring myself for the next few days. I couldn't sleep the way I usually sleep, so I had to lie flat on my face just so I wouldn't feel the pain on the bump because of pressure. Even a slight press to that bump now makes me cringe..
I'm just blogging this down so that all of you (including papa and mama) won't worry for me, as I'm in the good hands of my friends.
Within the first few weeks of staying here, I suffered from sprained ankles and really itchy rashes..
And just last night, as I was about to make a call to Eveline (good ol' buddy), I hit the back part of my skull really hard on the telephone. And just naturally, the tears came flowing... And almost immediately, a really noxious bump formed on the back of my head. I think it was about 2 cm high... not exaggerating at all, cuz when my friends felt my head, they measured that much with their fingers.
The pain was unbearable for the first few seconds, but my friends kept telling me to massage my head (you have to, otherwise the bump will never go away and it also helps to prevent blood clots). I think they were very worried about me because the position and size of injury was in a rather risky zone. But thank God that I had a dormmate who knew how to deal with such bumps and massaged my head with 4 hard boiled eggs!
Thank God too that I didn't wake up feeling dizzy or nauseous (signs of internal injury), but I'll still be monitoring myself for the next few days. I couldn't sleep the way I usually sleep, so I had to lie flat on my face just so I wouldn't feel the pain on the bump because of pressure. Even a slight press to that bump now makes me cringe..
I'm just blogging this down so that all of you (including papa and mama) won't worry for me, as I'm in the good hands of my friends.
Thursday, June 7, 2007
My Results!!!
Wooooooo Hoooooo!!!!!!
I got my exam results!!!!!!!!!!! And I really want to thank God for the grades that I received!!!!
I did pretty well for all of my subjects, and was really quite amazed with the 'A' that I got for Intro to Asian Art II!!!
And I had a wonderful time today at Puyallup. First we had dinner at New China Buffet, where we had an endless load of delicious food for just US$10. Then we headed to Borders where I got the new CD from Maroon 5. And finally, back to the mall at Target for our basic necessities, plus a walk around the mall for other stuff (like my new set of earphones, ear studs and candy).
But lo and behold, the awesomest thing happened when we saw the security guard running after a sneaky thief. To me it was something out of the ordinary, almost like an action movie scene with the cops chasing after the bad guy.
The ride back to the dorm was pretty cool too, cuz for 90 percent of the trip we couldn't even see anything in front of us cuz it was extremely cloudy. We were literally driving through the clouds. Hehz...
From,
Erica...
I got my exam results!!!!!!!!!!! And I really want to thank God for the grades that I received!!!!
I did pretty well for all of my subjects, and was really quite amazed with the 'A' that I got for Intro to Asian Art II!!!
And I had a wonderful time today at Puyallup. First we had dinner at New China Buffet, where we had an endless load of delicious food for just US$10. Then we headed to Borders where I got the new CD from Maroon 5. And finally, back to the mall at Target for our basic necessities, plus a walk around the mall for other stuff (like my new set of earphones, ear studs and candy).
But lo and behold, the awesomest thing happened when we saw the security guard running after a sneaky thief. To me it was something out of the ordinary, almost like an action movie scene with the cops chasing after the bad guy.
The ride back to the dorm was pretty cool too, cuz for 90 percent of the trip we couldn't even see anything in front of us cuz it was extremely cloudy. We were literally driving through the clouds. Hehz...
From,
Erica...
Saturday, June 2, 2007
Photos
hey for photos, just go to la-jolie-sirene.blogspot.com
I accidentally placed it in the wrong blog...
I accidentally placed it in the wrong blog...
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