Overall, experience in Singapore was a memorable moment. Despite the culture was different from America, but I don't think I will be living in Singapore or any part of Asia. I cannot adapt to the Asian culture because I'm Americanized. The Asian culture is very conservative and at NUS, there were no school spirit. I missed Penn State, my friends, and family. The college students are stressful and don't know how to adapt to college life. I met some exchange students who went to Penn State and they liked the culture there. The weather is definitely different. Singapore has only one season and it's tropical weather throughout the year. I missed the four seasons. This year, New York has snow till March. In Penn State, it has closed down like 3 times. Andrew kept informing about the snow conditions in Penn State and New York. However, my skin was smooth compared to America. But I do missed the cold. 

I miss the nightlife in New York. Singapore's night life was boring.  In certain clubs, the age ranged from 18 to 40s, but the DJs were horrible. They played all hip-hop, but there were no various types of music, such reggae. But they're the only songs they played were all Sean Paul. They don't know how to mix the music. My friend could made some money in Singapore if he was the DJ. For me, I can't be satisfied because I compared everything to New York City. Growing in the city, there's a huge difference in culture. I came from where the city never sleeps. Every city has their own symbolism and uniqueness. 

Last week, I went to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The city was interesting and it was a little bit more cleanlier than Thailand. At least you can try to drink the water compared to Thailand. I didn't try to drink the water, I brought like 10 water bottles. Malaysians can speak Chinese and they were mainly Hokkien. I went to Getling Islands. It was actually a casino located on the top of the mountain and you had to take a skyway in order to get there. People who knows me that I have a phobia of heights. The skyway was 15-20 minutes long and it took forever to go there. It was very high and I was screaming. I had to do that again when I had to leave. It was the worst experience ever. When I reached to the casino, it was quiet and boring compared to Las Vegas and Atlantic City. If you have been to AC or Las Vegas, then you will think the casino was boring. The service was horrible. 

Last Sunday was my birthday. I feel old and I'm closer to my mid-20s. My brother is actually turning 25 in June and he's not complaining about his age. In our role, I feel that I act older than he is. My brother doesn't look like his age. Everyone always mistake us for switching roles. 

I'm ready for the next trip: Malaysia, then Hong Kong. I'm actually more excited to go to Tokyo then the other trips because I have already been to Hong Kong and Beijing. I better start learning how to speak Japanese, I have my cheat book: How to speak Japanese in 10 days?" I know that I'm retarted, but I need to learn quick. Luckily, I have my Japanese friend, Sakuya and she will meet me at Tokyo, Japan. 

I already finished with NUS on April 13. It was the worst week ever because I had 3 exams within 2 days. The difficult part was all essays and it was cumulative compared to Penn State. Truthfully, I had a great experience at NUS, but I will definitely miss all the people that I had met, especially Carine and Anna. You made my experience at NUS a memorable moment, I hope that we will keep in contact in the future. I'm already tired of school and I need to relax. 

Well, my birthday is coming up and I'm already feeling old. Every year, I'm reaching closer to mid-20s, this is a scary moment in my life. I know I'm being paranoid, but I can't help it. 

**Andrew and Anita: 7 months. I miss you soo much. Only a month left till I get back from traveling. 

April 3, 2004                                                                                                                  1:05AM   

I'm ready to leave Singapore. I can't wait to travel. I've been here for 4 months. One thing, my family always forget my birthday. This month is the month that I turn another year...I don't want to know. I'm getting closer to my mid-20s. However, I'm very satisfied about my life. I'm not complaining too much, just that I don't want to be 22 years old yet. 

Here's my schedule for the upcoming trips:

This week I have to go to China's Embassy to get my visa. This passport/visa process is a hassle. I guess China doesn't like Americans. I will keep you posted. I have to study for finals. Only one week and 1/2 left.

April 2, 2004                                                                                                                    4:05PM  

I'm sorry that I haven't writing on this diary, but I'm trying to keep up with a lot of school and other things. Finally, classes were over on Friday and my final exams are on April 12 and the 13th. I have to study next week. Lately, I have a lot of stories to tell, but I don't know where to start. Let's start: 

• Website is finally completed. It took me forever to recreate another website. Hopefully you will enjoy surfing this website as I did. Thanks to Andrew for helping and creating this website. 

• I missed a lot of things to say in each month. I will explain thoroughly of what happened to me in the past 2 months.

February

Sun, Feb 8: 

American BBQ!! It was a gathering day at PGP. Leslie, Dan, and I went to Carrefore (it is similar to Wal-Mart) and brought all the food. Both Dan did all the BBQ for us. The food was great. This is the first time, I met Anna, she's Singaporean and couple of Germans. Overall, it was mainly North Americans (mainly Canadians and Americans). 

Week (Feb 9-13), The beginning of the sickness week! :(

I had pneumonia. It was not a pleasant week. I went to the hospital twice. I had a high fever and it was above normal. On the day that I went to the first hospital, I knocked on my neighbor's door (Sakrya) and asked her if she can come to the hospital with me. She told me to take a thermometer first to see if it was serious first. When I saw the results, I didn't know if I had a fever or not. The thermometer indicated 39.5 C and I didn't know what is the conversion to F.  She said that it is very high and it's above any normal fever. She has never seen this high before. 

We went to the hospital immediately. After being there for almost 3 hours, the doctor wanted to check it I had SARS first, then she finally the results were negative. I went home and Sakrya made rice porridge for me. It was really nice of her. I didn't really eat anything for 3 days because of 2 reasons: (1) I didn't have an appetite (2) I couldn't swallow any food because I had a swollen throat. I think I lost weights and I lost some color on my face. I was very pale, it was horrible. I missed all my classes and the worst thing is that I had a mid-term exam the following week and I didn't have time to study for it.

Sat, Feb 14: 

Happy Valentine's Day!! Much love to everyone on that day. Andrew tried to lie to me that he didn't give me anything for Valentine's Day, except the flowers didn't come until the next day. He was obvious and I knew that he got something for me because he keep a straight face and kept asking million of questions about certain things.  I brought two nice gifts and it had to be delivered to his apartment, but the best thing is that he didn't know that he was receiving a gift from me. I love his reaction and it was the best feeling ever.

Well, on the next day, both of the gifts came. In the morning, someone knocked on my door and it was lady with a bouquet of roses and lilies. It was very beautiful. I had a problem because I didn't have a vase. I had to go to Georgie's Market and get a vase. However, they don't sell vases, so I brought a long cup and substitute as a vase. It looks mad ghetto. But I'm the only one who will see it.   Actually Nnamdi gave me a present to and it was unexpected. 

To Nam: Thank you for you gift and I really appreciate it, Nam. Love ya. I didn't expect to receive a gift from you. You're always been there for since we've met in high school. 

Mon, Feb 23:

LAPTOP Crashes!!! What a bad month. Sorry Welby for breaking your laptop. Everything wasn't working for me this month. I was offline for 2 weeks and I went to the computer center every night to talk to Andrew. Luckily, one of my friends in Penn State, she was very nice of her to lend her laptop to me till I finish studying in Singapore. Thanks, Michelle. Without her right now, I wouldn't finish or updating this website. For the ending of the month of February, I had to catch up work because of my sickness. The finish all my work before Andrew came. I didn't have time to spend online chatting with friends. Sorry, if I didn't talk to you.

Sun, Feb 29:

Andrew arrived. He arrived at night (11:55PM) and apparently, I got there on-time, actually 5 minutes before the arrival time. I think he learned Japanese while he was on the plane. He claimed, "It was the longest flight ever?" But it was worth the wait. We haven't seen it each other since December 30. I miss the New Year's Day to celebrate with my closest friends and my family. Aisha came back to New York and I didn't get a chance to see her. I'm sorry. Nam left early to go back to school to study for his senior comprehensive exam. I almost forgot, Congratulations to Nam for passing the exam. Ok back to Andrew before I changed the subject. It's been hard for both of us. Don't get me wrong, we communicated with each other daily. This is the fifth month for us. I'm happy.

2 Weeks in March 1-12

Traveling around with Andrew in Singapore only. Sadly, I couldn't take him around other than Singapore. This month was the most work I ever had. The time he will leave, I had a presentation on Tuesday. On the weekend, I was occupied by my group members. On the weekday, I had classes and they're usually like 3-4 hours a day. 

The first thing in Singapore is FOOD. We ate everywhere. I think Andrew gained weight. I don't want to explain too much in this part because Andrew wrote it on the diary of March. We went different places in Singapore. 

2 Weeks of School Week AKA HELL WEEKS

After Andrew left, I had to prepare for 1 presentation and 3 term papers: leadership in an organization, Japanese history, and Singapore society. They were due on a similar dates and I barely had time. I concentrated more on the presentation because it was part of my major. Everyday, I saw two different group members. It was difficult to juggle with them. I stayed majority of my night and finish my part. It was time consuming for me. The presentation was for retail entrepreneurship. We had to create a retail store and needs a marketing plan. My part was in charge of the promotional strategies and website. The focus was men personal caring needs. I put a lot of effort in this website. Check it out. Click here I barely spoken to anyone, but my group members.