A different soil

The Puyallup fair is on!

2006-09-18T04:00:00.000+08:00

The Washington state fair at Puyallup (pronounced Pyu-ah-lup) was great. Alex & I spent 6 hours there, until it got too cold for the Asian to bear. :">

There are rides, food stalls, barns (horses, cows, sheeps, pigs, llamas, etc.), live music performances, rodeo shows, souvenir stalls, games, art exhibition, hobby collections (star wars, LOTR, batman, teddy bears, etc.), dog shows, and anything else you can imagine!
It was fantastically fun! :) So fun that I forget to take pictures (I always forget... :p)!
The fair goes on for a month! All these for just USD7 of entrance fee!

The sad part was Switchfoot, MercyMe, Carrie Underwood, and other famous bands made appearances last week! :( We only got to see some country rock & roll.
There were many native american stalls selling interesting handmade crafts, the famous Wayna was playing his flute-thing live. I got mom his cd, think she'll love it. :) The Quichua Mashis, a South American musical group were there too. I also got a cd from them, and even had their autographs!

I had a blast time. We were eating (while walking) most of the time. Heh~ So many interesting delicacies! My favourite is still the Funnel cake. YUM! Deep fried cake topped with frozen strawberries, whipped cream, and icing sugar. Slurp~

Oh SaiLou Benny, I'm heading back, and you're coming here? When will I get to see you, housemate!?!?

Oh Autumn, we dont like you.....

2006-09-16T10:28:00.000+08:00

Chandler was so dry that my skin cracked and it hurts too, oh boy. The dessert was what I had imagined..... but better. Giant cactuses are everywhere, some taller and fatter than me! The amazing part is how the US government turn a dessert into civilization, and by the years, the development keeps growing outward in area.... how people there live with all the comfort of utilities, technology & civilization. Anything you can find in Oregon or Washington, they have it in the middle of the DESSERT! Also, it's pretty how they kept the buildings as low as possible making the horizon so clear, the sky so broad and the land so far wide; the sun set is picture perfect!
Downside of it is I only got ot spend 2 days there. But work was superb. I got to meet many of whom I used to know only by names. It was a great and fruitful time spent discussing about work & what's related. I think it just made even more passionate about my job! (Wished I had more time there~)

Touched down in Hillsboro airport at 9am this morning, and it was cold. TOO COLD. Colder than I remembered. Have I gotten used to the sun and heat in the dessert that I forgot how pleasant it felt in the evergreens? Funny I see EVERYONE in their thick water-prove jackets. Oh Autumn.... you're here! We don't like you. Everyone complained about the rain......The COLD rain of the Northwest. BBBRRRrrrrrrrr~~~!

I got on the shuttle again at 5pm, and came up to Washington to spend the weekend with Alex & his friends/family. I got too bored of Oregon I guess..... There's nothing to do there except shopping (one activity which my Malaysian friends never get bored of~) I think I'm bored with 'tourist activities', and felt more like spending my weekend going for the movies, BBQ or hanging out at Rob's house.... :o making waffles and playing with Sunny! I think I'm home sick, and this is the closest to home I can find?

One more week. I'm sorry I'm not staying long, Autumn. And Summer, thanks for the great adventure!

It's been 10 weeks plus......

2006-09-12T12:38:00.000+08:00

.... since I set foot in this land of red, white & blue.

What have I done since the last update?
- Conference in San Jose, capital of Silicon Valley.
- Sight-seeing in California: San Francisco & Pebble Beach. (I LOVE SAN FRANCISCO!)
- Shopping at Woodburn, Oregon.
- Met up friends from California, visited Lincoln City Beach at the Oregon Coast.
- Worked and am still working every day & night for the past 2 weeks. :( Tight project schedule & high demand/expectation.

Heading to dry-dessert of Chandler, Arizona tomorrow for 2 days.
1 and half more weeks and I'm outta here~ Can't wait!

Wheeeee...

2006-08-25T16:14:00.000+08:00

Update update...

2006-08-24T12:44:00.000+08:00

Aiyoh! The daily posting became weekly, and now monthly? Ops....

It's been real busy lately. Work is almost described as hectic.
I guess it came as a package of having to work with senior engineers who've been with the company for an average 10 years and on the most important project to the company now. It's a norm now to get difficult questions & challenges get thrown left and right at. On the brighter side, I'm learning a lot from them. :)

While most weekdays are spend on work (even at nights, meetings with Penang!) and the only highlight on weekdays are just food and "what-I-ate-for-lunch-and-dinner", weekends are usually filled with fun activities & sight-seeings.

I have had interesting weekends, thanks to our local tour guides; 2 weekends ago, Jani took us to the Oregon coasts around Newport & Depoe Bay and an amazing chinese seafood dinner! We even went to the Evergreen Aviation Museum which houses the biggest wodden aircraft in the world - The Spruce Goose.
Last weekend, Alex brought AJ & I around the scenic route of Cascade Loop to the east of Washington. Its amazing that just passing the mountains, the scenes changed from evergreen-salem to dessert-dry! Temperature, geographic landscape & plants are totally different! We made a stop at an interesting Bavarian town called Leavenworth! The next day, we took the ferry to San Juan Island; and was lucky enough for a few seconds of whales watching! *jeng jeng jeng*.......for dinner, we went to an interesting gay restaurant in Seattle :O where we had an amazing dinner (SO YUMMY!) and interesting surrounding as well; eye opener I'd say. *wink wink*

Oh, we went to a fancy steak house in Tacoma on Friday night; and I had a steak for $42!!!! But it was grilled to perfection! The medium rare is BEYOND imagination. The mashed potatoes - so fluffy and soft.... But not spending a single cent for 2 days before that helped paid for the bill. *grin*

CV is here in Oregon. *jumps with joy* She reached yesterday; on urgent request to resource for the same project. I was counting yesterday; and half of our team (seven out of fourteen) from Penang is in the US, however 3 in Folsom. We had dinner together to celebrate for Jani's birthday at his fav sushi house. So much fun, so much laughter and so much sampat-ness!!!!! Lem0n, I just had the most delicious sushi in my life. (I'm sorry, I told you my weekday highlights are usually only food!) And when I have jap, I think of no one else but you. Heh.
I shouldn't blog on weekdays. They're all about food....but it's definitely more interesting than my tedious work ma. :p

I miss home. I miss my family so much. 1 more month. *looking forward!*

If I go MIA again, it's because we're leaving Oregon this Friday to San Jose, CA for an annual Intel conference for a week.

Loving weekends

2006-08-20T16:07:00.000+08:00

My First Footie Game!

2006-08-15T15:50:00.000+08:00

What people say

2006-08-15T03:08:00.000+08:00

People say.... "Humans are often unhappy with what they have, and grass always look greener on the other side."
I agree with 'people'.
Everyone envies this opportunity I have to come to the US for 3 months. Everyone is happy for me. :)
I wont deny that I am indeed blessed. But I just got too homesick and its getting worse. I think of things I'm missing back home.... convocation, get-togethers & birthdays.
It's affecting me quite seriously... I'd get tired of my day easily..... even when we're visiting interesting places & eating nice/new stuffs.

I hope I get over it soon.

5 more weeks.... *counting down*

M.I.A

2006-08-10T06:11:00.000+08:00

Yes I have been missing in action, haven't I? I was away for 10 days for a one-week UCLA summer extension classes. We (myself & 3 other colleagues from Penang) took the opportunity to spend 2 weekends in Los Angelas, California. There were no internet connections in all 3 different hotels we stayed at thus the M.I.A.

I'm glad to be back in the northwest. Not only it was darn hot in the southwest, LA is stuffy! The whole city is absurdly congested, the traffic was bad & the people weren't as nice as here. If anyone were to go to LA, go visit Disneyland & Universal Studio, then head back! :p Hollywood & LA downtown is not as fascinating as what people imagined/spread around.

On the brighter side, we had many rewarding experiences and surprises! *blessed* Disneyland was a dream come true. Seeing all the cartoon characters "live" made me feel like a small girl all over again. Photos will up posted up soon once I get my hands on them! Universal studio was fun too. Fun referring to being able to take pictures with superheros and film/cartoon characters.. heh.. I also got to tour around the setting for Desperate Housewives! :O I was in the middle of Wysteria Lane where they shoot the series. Unexpectedly, we saw the Chelsea football club at UCLA field one day after our classes! *too bad I'm not a Chelsea fan*

Some other highlights are watching the X-games finals live at The Staples Center (homeground of LA Lakers), dine at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co restaurant (Remember Forest Gump?), walked at Santa Monica Promenade (filled with artists & musicians drawing/playing by the streets), and visited the world famous San Diego Zoo.

The whole 10 days were hectic - rushing for class early in the morning, class from 8 to 5 every weekday & going around visiting after! Thus I'm glad to be back in the peaceful & cooling Northwest. :p I'm in Washington today & tomorrow. I'm tagging along some guy colleagues for a football match in Seattle. It's Real Madrid vs. some local US soccer team. *excited.. it's gona be my first live football match!*

6 more weeks to go...... *homesick*

More photos!

2006-07-28T17:10:00.000+08:00

Pictures!

2006-07-27T14:48:00.000+08:00

Pictures at last :D

From left to right: With SUNNY at Rob & Beth's; With AJ & Wing at Mount Hood; At Maltnomah fall; With Alex at Mount Rainier; With my snow-lady Mina; At Cappa Lava overseeing the Pacific Ocean; With Alex's parents at their cabin; At Seattle; At work! Jones Farm (one of Oregon sites); At Wahkeena fall.

The one who has been busy

2006-07-26T03:35:00.000+08:00

It's been a week since I last posted here. My apologies to whoever reads this (Personally, I don't think there are many..) Anyway, I'm doing good here. I'm fully involved in the new project now with no other commitments on others, so that I can concentrate & contribute more.

I've also been traveling to and fro OR & WA to sync up and work with Alex in WA & other stakeholders in OR. I'm glad our company has its own air shuttle service; no need to go through commercial flight booking procedure or hassling/time-consuming check-ins & boarding; though our planes are fairly small (I say it's super mini - can only accommodate 20 ppl!) We get picked up at our office to the airport; and back right to the destination site's doorstep.

We had a good weekend at Oregon; lots of sight seeing - canon beach town, seaside beach, mount hood, lots of water falls, tillamook cheese factory & woodburn shopping outlet. My favourite is the canon beach town; it looked almost like Gilmore Girls' Star Hallow; with lots of cafes/dinners, crafts shops & art galleries. All these, just seconds away from the beautiful beach overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The beach had very cold breeze & freezing cold water; almost having to wear a sweater (in summer!).

Hillsboro, Oregon has been suffering from heat wave for the past 5 days; causing a rise in temperature to 41 degrees celcius! :O It's almost as hot (or hotter) than Penang! I'm sure glad that I'm in Washington now, enjoying the cold temperature. Funny just 2+ hours away from Oregon, the temperature here is much lower.

As beautiful as the scenary is in the US, as delicious as the food can be, I'll miss the people most. The ever friendly & helpful, warm Americans.

Weekend and others.

2006-07-19T03:22:00.000+08:00

Last Friday, Wing & I followed Alex to his parents' cabin by the Northwest coast; at the Olympic National park. It was a long 7 hours car ride, but it was a pleasant one - with much sight seeing. Wing kept dozing on & off in the car; while I stayed awake to keep Alex company. We chatted for 7 hours straight! :O

We realised that we were heading to the most northwest tip of the country, and could even see the Canada's Vancouver islands over the horizon. If we stared hard enough, we could see Japan at the opposite end of the Pacific Ocean. Heh not really.... It looked as though the ocean had no end, because of the fog.
What got me real excited was the fact that while we were enjoying the beautiful sunset, Japan is awaiting its sunrise!
The Levins cabin is by the beach; overlooking the pacific ocean. The water was at freezing temperature, but we had a pretty sunny day on Saturday. Even with the sun up, we had to wear sweater down to the beach! :O
Who would have thought, that in the land of America, I'd be away from civilization. The toilet was like what I went through in Sarawak's Iban longhouses! We had no electricity & running water; but I never felt anything was lacking. The meals were great & the company was wonderful. We went to the beach for a mini picnic when the sun was up & played indoor crossword, scrabble & boggle when it's cold and chilly outside. :)

Wing & I been working from DuPont since Monday, and later in the evening, we're taking the Intel air shuttle back to the Oregon site. Work is really picking up, I'm getting busier by the minute. I was called in yesterday night to work on the older project; and couldnt help but feel overwhelmed by the amount of work - stressed! Alex emailed my manager today to pull me off the old project to concentrate on the new one. Thank goodness... :)

Bye-Bye WA, Hello OR!

2006-07-14T13:25:00.000+08:00

My last few days in Washington were memorable.

On Tuesday, I decided to cook chinese for Alex and his friends; Rob & Beth. Alex paid for all the groceries - we got most of what I needed from a Korean minimart & Fred Meyer's.
Within an hour (with Alex's help), I cooked these for my fellow American friends:
- Fried rice with dried shrimps, luncheon meat, egg, carrots & peas
- Stir fried pork with mushroom, french beans & carrots
- ABC soup with pork dumplings
And for dessert, we had vanilla ice-cream with peach & longan.
I'm glad they enjoyed it. Alex gave me an "A" for my cooking. Whheeee~!

I had to work late on Wednesday night to meet deadline; nonetheless head for a nice bar/restaurant for dinner with Alex's friends/neighbours.

Today started in a special way. :) Smucks!

We left WA at 7 this morning to head for OR. Alex started the driving for an hour and I took over because he was feeling too tired. I was going on 75mph for quite a while and Alex warned me to go slower. I was overtaking the car infront of me, and had to step on the gas! After overtaking, I did slow down; and he kept saying "slow down slow down, there's a police." I said "where?" Low and behold, he was right infront of my face in black suit; pointing right at my face (at the car actually) with his big arm, and swayed his arm to the left side of the road. :O :O :O I got a big fat speeding ticket ($100)! Apparently the speed limit changed to 45mph but I had not noticed! :( Sobs..... Alex was nice enough to sponsor me $25 as he felt he's partially responsible since he's my driving coach.

HAPPINESS is the word today. I met up with AJ & Wing today. OR site is nice! More people & more lively. My excitement was up to the max & talked more than I ever did for the past 2 weeks here. :) :) :)

Wing & I will be leaving with Alex after work tomorrow straight to his parents' cabin at Northwest (top left tip of the America map) by the beach facing the Pacific Ocean for the weekend. I'm happy Wing is here. I can't stop smiling now...... We're sharing a spacious nice twin hotel room with 2 single beds, a bathroom, working table, a living area & a mini kitchen.

Home is where your heart is

2006-07-12T03:33:00.000+08:00

Work load is picking up this week; we have a milestone to reach this coming Thursday. Thursday is also the day I'll be going down to Oregon (2 hours away by car, Alex will be driving); Thursday is also the day I'll be meeting Wing & AJ. :) They're scheduled to arrive tomorrow evening.

Yesterday was one of the most horrible day. Not only was homesick sinking in, the lunch group I ate with could not stop complaing about their work & the people they work with. Made me feel so demotivated... and plus the quiet environment here... sigh* And I miscalculated Wing's departure day, Nick was not in time to pass my doggie soft toy to her. :~(
Alex says it was obvious I had a bad day. I had THE look on my face, plus I wasn't as chirpy and talkative as usual.

As fun as it sounds in America, I miss home (Yes, already!)
I'm glad Wing is already coming; that'll give my adrenaline a rush & boost my excitement and energy. 2 weeks later, 2 more guys from PG will be coming over for our class at UCLA. I thank God that my team members are all coming sequentially. That'll keep me up in excitement. Hopefully I won't get too homesick!

An Alex-ish weekend

2006-07-11T13:45:00.000+08:00

Saturday was spent mostly on the road - it takes 3 hours to reach Mt. Rainier; and another 3 hours back.
We hiked up Mt. Rainier (not all the way to the summit-la!) but high enough that I could play with snow & built my very own snowman - err, snowlady, and I named 'her' Mina. :)
The hike down on the snow was scarier; where I slipped and fell on my butt!
For dinner, Alex cooked yummy pasta!

On Sunday, we had to leave the house by 5.15am with Rob & Beth to Bellevue (an hour away) for the Seafair Marathon. Rob & Alex were participating in the full marathon of 23 miles! It was an exciting experience; Beth & I were cheering for almost everyone (haha!). The most fun part was at the finishing line, and Beth got over excited she yelled for everyone; "FINISH STRONG!" "YOU CAN DO IT!" "DON'T LET HER BEAT YOU!".
After that, we caught the World Cup Finals at Rob & Beth's and headed for the mall after. We had Red Robin for dinner & watched "Pirates of the Carribean: Dead man's chest". 2 thumbs up for the movie & another 2 toes up for Jonny Depp!
Poor Alex was so tired by the time we got home after the movie!

Good weekend! :)

workie work!

2006-07-07T12:04:00.000+08:00

It's been 2 days since I started going to work. Our DuPont site isn't as ellaborate as the Penang campus, as it only has 3 buildings. However, it is nicely located in the middle of a forest - just a few minutes from town. I love the morning drive into the campus; can't help but to comment on the beautiful green pastures & trees (christmas tree-look alike) every morning!

The office has higher cubicles (I think it's cos they're taller); I still can't find my way around - it's almost maze-like for shortie me. The whole floor is VERY quiet and has relatively less people! It appears that the folks here work from home 1-2 days a week & goes over to the Oregon site once a week; so what's left is 2-3 days per week at the office? *faints* The average age here is 45 years old! :O *faints again*. I told my Pg colleagues that the office environment is the perfect land of boredom and I miss being lively & laughing crazily with them! Here, it's talk serious, walk serious & act serious. No stupid joke, else they'll look at you one kind. Haha! Well, at least I have Alex to bully *grin.

Work is slowly ramping up, I still have a bit of jet lag once in a while like today I felt so sleepy (my brain couldn't get up) in the morning. But the new project is a lot of fun!
Cafeteria food is good. :) I usually take a green salad with light ranch dressing with fruit juice for lunches (but there are yummy pizza, grills, tostadas, etc.) to watch my weight/diet. Breakfast is....... hearty healthy & duper yummy.

Alex is smart nowadays. He orders a smaller portion for himself because he knows that he'll have to eat at least half of mine. All these years I've known him, I've never seen him with a tummy.... but lately it is showing! >:) I think Joash understands Alex's situation here.

Happy Birthday, America!

2006-07-06T03:16:00.000+08:00

Happy 230th Birthday America!

Everyone was either organizing a bbq or at least going for one in the nicest weather of the year in Washington, yesterday.
I watched air crafts shows, went for a flea market sort of fair, had bbq with Alex's friends and visited Alex's parents at Port Orchard (again :>). This time, his younger brother, Elliot and his girlfriend Amanda was there with Alex's parents' friends. Nancy had baked yummy homemade blueberry & peach pie. On our way there, I told Alex to stop by the supermarket to get Nancy & Sheldon some fresh flowers, instead a small pot of roses caught my eye.

We then sat by the water over a camp fire & admired the beautiful fireworks (& Alex was firing away some too). BUT, it was freezing cold for me - <15>Hehe.....

I'm starting to feel home sick now. This morning as I woke up, I suddenly felt like eating nasi lemak! I told Alex that I will never make fun of him craving for it again. :p

Oh, July 4th 2006 also marks my 1st working-at-Intel anniversary! :D

:)

2006-07-04T17:03:00.000+08:00

It's Monday here, and it's a holiday! :)

Today, I had requested for us to go to the art gallery in Tacoma instead of Mount Reiner, since I was not as physically fit this morning. We had brunch at Taco Bell (Bob's fav?) for a mexican-american fast food (it was okay - I like the nachos very much.) and headed down town for Tacoma Art Gallery. :) At the entrance, there was a HUGE dog sculpture made of card board in a sitting position that is probably 3 times my standing height! :o
The highlights in the gallery were probably the amazing French sketches & paintings and glass art by a famous local artist named Dane Chihuly. I'll include pictures from Alex's camera once I get hold of them. They had weird Japanese art too; but I just walked right through them because they were just too weird.

We then headed to the Washington Court House (used to be a train station) just 1 minute of walk away for some picture-taking. Next to it was the Washington State Museum, where I had a great time. (Really, a GREAT time at the museum, no kidding!) We wanted to go straight to the Glass Museum, but Alex wanted to check with his dad first for free passes, since he volunteers there after his retirement.

It was already 6pm when we drove out of Tacoma towrds Port Orchard to visit Alex's parents just ~20 minutes away. We stopped by the supermarket to pick up cherries, strawberries, chips & dip & a bottle of white wine.

Port Orchard is lovely; imagine it to be like a western 'kampung' or Smallville (without the barns & horses). The Levin residence is a dream home. Just by the water (that leads to Puget Sound), and a clear view of Mount Renier. I definitely have to attach pictures; since my vocab is limited to describe them. The dining area of the house extended out with glass windows up to the ceiling; and the water view is just spectacular. Nancy and Sheldon were the nicest & warmest parents I've ever met, said "When we saw this house, we knew it'll be a perfect retirement home." And it sure is. It's what I imagined my dream home to be like. P.E.R.F.E.C.T. I just sat at the porch and relaxed myself over the cool breeze. Alex on the other hand, was climbing up and down the rocks - I guess he's just happy to be home & to play with his cat. Nancy prepared rice with some kind of philipino styled pork with cabbage served with white wine. We then had fresh strawberries & blueberries with vanila ice-cream after looking through Alex's childhood pictures. It was very nice, being in a home so warm and comfortable just chatting & sharing laughters.
I hope we're going over there again tomorrow night, the Levin's are throwing a small get-together & Alex's brothers will be back then too.

I think by far, my favourite place is Port Orchard at Alex's parents' place. :)

Happy July 4th!
Owh, I picked out 2 American flags at the supermarket today, and they're proudly raised at his porch now.

Sleepless in Seattle?

2006-07-04T16:30:00.000+08:00

Before heading for Seattle, Alex brought me to a mall to get a pair of good walking shoes since my sandals were giving me blisters.

We went in and, walah - SALE! KMy favourite is now GAP; where some random stuffs for my siblings. You see, they had asked me to get them anything nice & of good bargain. I got myself a pair of good adidas walking shoes (I had always wanted them, but too pricey - RM200+ in Malaysia, but with Alex's Macy's card, it was down to USD35.)

We headed for Seattle, and wow.... I had imagined New York to look like that from the movies. No good pictures taken there, since my cam batt died on me & Alex forgot to bring his cam's memory card! We headed for the world's very first Starbucks! Yes, it started at Seattle's Pike Market Place. I treated Alex to a iced latte while I got myself an ice-blended double choc chip. Superbly yummy! Alex kept stealing my drink while he held to it as I looked at the local art stuffs along the streets. :) I kept thinking of how much Joash would love it there! We said we would come back here when Wing gets to US, because most of the stalls were closing down already (since it's a Sunday afternoon). We walked into the market place; I was just amazed at the flowers & fruits. We bought some cherries to nible in the car, and tasted some of the best jellys (bread spread - like jem taste of chardonnay, red wine, etc.), almond nuts, strawberries, and what-nots! I will definitely come back here to get the almonds for my mom! I was captured by the floor tiles which had peoples' names - Alex told me that at one point the state government wanted to demolish the old market place, but the people came up with petition & great idea to turn each donation of $20 into a tile to raise enough money to maintain & renovate it. :) COOL huh. We decided not to tour the whole place since we'll be back again. We then went into some of the shops for interior decorations for Alex's house; when I saw Tiffany's! First time seeing Tiffany's upclose... woah.. no wonder it's every girl's dream to own one!!!

We then drove around town & around capital hill (famous for gays :o) and into University of Washington (where Alex did his postgrad). Alex gave me a personal tour (but campus was all quiet due to the summer break) & had told me to give it (studying masters there) a try and had convinced me that I'll definitely make it through the entrance exam and application with my bachelors result & experience at Intel; and even offered the teaching assistance program where all tuition fees are waived. I got excited actually.... but when it digested long enough, I told him that it took me so long to be settled in Pg, I'll only come 14 thousand kms away from home if Joash was coming too. We'll see...... :)

We stopped by Ballard Lock for sight-seeing. It's a ship canal to link Lake Washington and Puget Sound (from the Pacific ocean). We could even see the salmon fishes traveling from the ocean from Puget Sound into Lake Washington from under the sea.

We then rode on the longest floating bridge in the world and passed by Bill Gate's house (not a very fancy house though.)

Dinner was at Broadway Grill at Capital Hill; I was at first skeptical about the place but when the food came..... I'd say it's probably 10 times better than Chili's. Dinner was great. But again, I couldn't finish my pasta. Poor Alex has to run 2 extra laps to burn the extra fat he's gaining these few days.

More of Seattle when Wing arrives!

Of shopping & eating....

2006-07-03T02:20:00.000+08:00

I started yesterday with watching the Portugal vs. England match in the morning with Beth's homemade waffles & Sunny (their dog) starring at me without any blinks. I don't know if its the football match I love to watch or the waffles & Sunny I enjoy being there more. Haha.... But I could not feed Sunny until it was 9am because she just had her medication. So poor Sunny had to stare me in the eye until it was time - then I gave her a piece of yummy waffles with strawberry. Rob said she's gona love me since I was the first to feed her all day! *winks. Later, I fell asleep on the couch because the weather was so cold & it was already midnight back home. Sigh, my jet lag! The game was boring too. I slept throughout half-time and was only awake at the penalty kicks when Rob lifted Sunny and put her on top of me! :p So Sunny was happily lying down on top of a comfortable sheet & fleshy me.

After football, Alex brought me to the Supermall! :D :D :D At a glance, I thought they didnt have many shops. But little did I know, the inside of each shop was huge! It takes at least 30 mins to go through each shop. Alex and I splitted up after a light lunch (corn dog & fries - I ordered kid's meal because the normal ones were HUGE). When we met up, to my dismay Alex came with a big bag of stuff he bought from GAP. I have not finished touring the whole mall, and I missed GAP. He took me to GAP, and I bought 8 tops (for myself & my sisters) which costs only $4 each. Yen will be happy with the halter I got her. :) Then, I told Alex I wantted to check out Levi's. There, he got 2 pairs of jeans! *pengsan. I couldnt find anything I like; honestly I think Malaysia has better selection of women cuts (though more expensive). I might go back there to get a nice pair for Joash. There was a sale on, and the jeans were only $25 each!
Overall, there were many nice skirts and pants; the only complain I have is, I can't find my size! I need size 0-2, and most of the ones on the rack were 10/12. I tried a size 10, and as I held on the weist of the pants, I could see my whole leg and both feet from inside! Then, Alex got himself a pair of running shoes! :O Who says girls are the only shopaholic huh. *grin
Nike's are on-sale here and are cheap ~25-30 each. Adidas however are a little more pricey for the nicer designs. I found a Nike I like but the only size left is 8. :(

I think I'm not trying hard enough to search for good bargains - because my big suitcase is broken & I have to stuff all my belongings now into the smaller ones & I need to carry only that to OR. So, more shopping in OR - also since it's tax-free! (Washington state charges 8% tax)

After the crazy shopping, my feet were sore. Alex just found out from his mom that Taste of Tacoma is this weekend. Taste of Tacoma is a food fair - where restaurants in town come together to throw a fair in the 2nd biggest part in the country!

We picked up Rob & Beth, and headed for it. For once, it felt like Penang when we reached - we could not find any parking!!!! All the sides of the roads were filled with cars....! When I reached, I was like "WHOAH........." There are so many food stalls; ranging from American food, Russian, Greece, Philipino, Indian, etc. It looked like our canteen day - just bigger and more people!
We got our food (BBQ ribs, Philipino BBQ & noodles, Greece somtehing-i-forgot-what-it's-called, Cajun Jambalaya rice, & Russian Pyroski), and sat down on the grass (in the sun) and started eating our food. There was a tent set up with bands playing, and while we were there, one band kept playing country rock kind, with harmonica. Many were having a blast, as they danced to the country music infront of the stage. What a nice sight. Mom would definitely love this. There were also fun-fair rides on the other side of the park. And as usual, many brought their dogs to join in this joyous occassion. Then, Alex & Rob went to get dessert; and I had another to-die-for dessert called Funnel cake - fried cake topped with frozen strawberry & whipping cream & icing sugar.

We spent about 3 hours there, and Alex was gentleman enough to go get the car to come pick us up from nearby. :) When we reached home, it was already 9pm (but it was still bright!!!) I slept straight until 10am today. I think my jet lag is gone! *yippies*

Alex is on a run now (with his cant-wait-to-tryout new pair of Brooks) and will be back soon to head for sight-seeing in Seattle! I should go make breakfast - heat up the bagel we bought with cream cheese. *yum

Ops, we should still continue to hunt for international phone card today!
I wish I had bought the videocam before coming here; would love to capture everything on video.

Greetings from Tacoma!

2006-07-01T20:51:00.000+08:00

Tacoma is a city which occupies about 150k people just in between the all-famous Seattle & the company site at DuPont in the state of Washington (not Washington DC!)
I'm blessed to be hosted by none other than Alex for my 2-weeks stay here. Staying at his house, because I dare not stay at the hotel & drive alone!

I love this place already! Tacoma is definitely a wonderful way & place to start the travel.

Here's why I think so & my first 24-hours encounter:
- Neighbourhood. Think of what you see on Gilmore girls, just bigger. Houses here look very homey & cottage-like (Owh, I passed by the house for "Ten Things I hate about you" shooting! Looks better than on tv.
- There are dogs everywhere! Heh, people walk their dogs everywhere they go, including restaurants & library & supermarkets! And they actually let you pat and play with their dogs!
- The weather is all lovely - 20+degrees, for once I love the sun, and because it's summer, we get 16 hours of daylight now. Nice! Sun is up by 4am & only goes down at ~9+pm.
- Accommodation. Alex's house is very comfy & nicely decorated, I know SuLin will just love the lavendar-scented bathroom & purple shower curtains & potpouris & candles!
- The people are duper friendly. Americans talk to each other so easily and friendly. In my past 24 hours here, I've had people approaching us talking about football matches, about their aunt's funeral, about how interesting that DVD Alex was holding in his hands at the dvd rental store, about his chinese tatoos he has & what they mean, and what-not! A famous question they ask at the supermarket or any stores you walk into "How are you? Are you finding everything alright here?". It feels very slow-paced & peaceful in overall.
- Friends/Neighbours. Rob & Beth's place has a nicely groomed garden & a cute dog too! We had bbq last night (not the typical charcoal one I'm used to - this was using a gas grill where you can sit on a table in the garden enjoying the company, weather & nature while waiting for the salmon to smoke on its own.) And we'll be catching the England - Portugal & Brazil - France at their basement which has a huge plasma screen tomorrow morning.
- Food is great. I love the bacon & cheese & salad (Most of the vegies I've not seen before!), so much chips & fries. Alex bought me 2 different kind of chips with 3 different kinds of dips yesterday! And who would forget the potatoes - fantastic ranch which goes with their thick fries & to-die-for potato salad! And Beth made the best dessert - fresh raspberry from their mother's garden with ice-cream & whipping cream. Again, Su Lin will love this! For breakfast tomorrow, Beth is making waffles with them! :o How to not get fat???? I can imagine Joash's eyes popping out now. *LOL*

I am more americanized that I realised. Heh.
We'll be going for sight-seeing during the weekend (think of the time zone as half a day behind Malaysia's) & probably go by Seattle too. I'm in time for the long weekend since Monday & Tuesday are holidays for US Independence day. *jumps up & down*
Sounds more like a vacation than a business trip huh. :p Wait till I get to OR. :(

P/s: I'll put up pictures soon, since I'm still not used to the take-picture-everywhere-I-go thing. I don't even own a camera, I'm using my sister's! :p

Overview Ta-da

2006-07-01T20:15:00.000+08:00

Heh, the title of the first post suck, I know. Can't help it, I'm an engineer (a very very junior junior one, Alex calls me)!

So, what are you doing 150 thousand kilometers away from home? (Owh, I'm already in the US btw... I'm 'suffering' from jet lag, and I woke up at 4am on my 2nd day here - translated to 7pm back home.)
I've been asked to come here by my senior staff engineer who's also my wonderful mentor since I was an intern back in 2004, to assist in a project which is under-resourced but is highly critical for the company now as it is supposed to be up for the company's next generation technology - think of maybe Pentium 5 (sorry I can't tell)?

I'll be in the US for 3 months (85 days to be exact - can't exceed 89 days or I need to file expensive tax return here).
The journey starts off with DuPont in the state of Washington where the company site is at for a 2-week training . I was supposed to come where with another girl co-worker (Wing), but Alex had asked me to come in just 2 weeks earlier for training (under him). Wing is getting trained right now by a senior colleague who just returned from the US weeks ago back in Pg.
Then, I'll be proceeding to the state of Oregon (where I meet up with Wing) at a site call Hillsboro for 2 months - this is where real work begin! *bites fingernails* This is the site chosen for the longest time spent because 80-90% of the project stakeholders work here. Just two weeks after I arrive at OR, Wing & I have to travel down to LA to attend a week of short summer course (High speed digital design & EMI/EMC) at UCLA (University of California, LA).

After the 2 months at OR, we're scheduled to travel down to the state of California to attend an internal conference at San Jose for a week & meet up with counterparts we've worked with at the Folsom site before proceeding to the state of Arizona at our site in Chandler for about 2 weeks prior to our return to good old home.

Lots of traveling; covering 4 states in total - gona be tiring, but a great exposure and opportunity to visit places!
I'm doing all the traveling after Oregon with Wing (Well, I was supposed to have the full travel with her). I'm glad & blessed to be able to travel with her, instead of being a lone-ranger chinese here.
Flying here alone wasn't fun, having to sit in the plane for 16 hours straight (but Kudos to SIA for making my flight a comfortable & pain-free one) & having to wander around LA Exchange alone with a wheel-broken bag for a transit to Seattle. It was horrifying, but I was tough enough to handle it. ;) *A pat on my back for myself* But I kinda scared my family, colleagues & Joash because I miscalculated the time of arrival! Poor mom was so worried, she thought i was arriving at 10am (MY time); but I only reached Seattle at MY time 5pm. SORRY!

I shall miss my loved ones very much during this travel.
I feel very challenged - my first time traveling out of Asia for so long & the work anticipated is overwhelming & exciting.
But I know I'll have a good trip as we're having great hosts at every state we're visiting. Thank you in advance, my fellow American counterpart-friends! :) We've hosted many of them when they visited Pg, so it's payback time. *Muahahahahhaa*

So here I go; blessed footprints at a different soil. *smiles* This is to keep you loved ones posted on my well-being & updates.