Bear with me for a while. This silence won't last too long. Chicago was great. Fantabulous, windy and cold. School is crazy with far too many readings and everything else. And, I've been having an insane craving for chocolate, cookies (especially chocolate chip cookies and sugar cookies), brownies... Yum YUm... No wonder bake sales drive me crazy. LOL...

my friend just asked me this...

Is a zebra a white horse with black stripes or a black horse with white stripes?

March 17th - Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

Ok, you'll probably see more photos and updates about St. Patrick's Day celebrations next week or so, when I get the time to upload my photos to my blog.

St. Patrick's Day? It's an Irish festival that has come to be associated with everything Irish: anything green and gold, shamrocks and luck. Most importantly, to those who celebrate its intended meaning, St. Patrick's Day is a traditional day for spiritual renewal and offering prayers for missionaries worldwide. In American cities with a large Irish population, St. Patrick's Day is a very big deal. Big cities and small towns alike celebrate with parades, "wearing of the green," music and songs, Irish food and drink, and activities for kids such as crafts, coloring and games. Some communities even go so far as to dye rivers or streams green! And, you will hopefully see in my later blog entries some of the festivities we soaked ourselves in last week when we attended the St. Patrick's Day parade and saw the river being dyed green here in Chicago. Uh huh... But, till then... If you're not wearing green, *pinch pinch* Haha... Yes, it's the custom on St. Patrick's Day to wear green (or at least have something green on your outfit) and if you don't they'll pinch you.

And, oooo... it snowed yesterday!!! And, when I went up North with HL today, I managed to see snow!! Haha... Photos when I get back to Austin. =)

I am off to Chicago!!! Whee... Going to be there till the 20th. Haha.... Yuppers, Going to see the St. Patrick's Day celebrations and going to visit Hsiangling. So, till then..

Adios!

Go check this out... http://www.mytruefriend.org/

Quite cool... Thanks Andre for the link!

It's been a super eventful weekend. So, here were the hilights of what happened over the last 2 days.

4th march 2006:
This week was Texas' Independence day. Uh huh... But, sadly, there was no public holiday for it. Well, at least, school was as per normal. So, the only chance we had to see the festivities was during the Texas Independence Day parade which took place on Saturday. No, definitely not as big as Singapore's National Day, just a simple street parade. So, here's some random shots from the interesting parts of the street parade. My favourite is the statue of Liberty one. =) Oh... And, a beautiful shot of the state Capital (from the back) at row 3, middle photo.

Gavin, this one's for you. Yes, I finally managed to visit a Walmart supercenter!!! Haha... I mean, what is visiting the States without visiting a Walmart store? So, finally, I managed to step into one, only to find it looking similar to 1 of those HUGE discounters in Malaysia (eg. Makro or Carrefour), having a large grocery and departmental section and also other smaller stores outside providing haircut, nail etc. services. Yuppers...
Ooo... And, there we go. My very 1st time playing lasertag!!! Whee hee hee.. It was a competition between MSA (Malaysia Student's Association) and SSA (Singapore Student's Association - which, I happen to be part of... DUH!). And this was a quick shot we got before we left the playing area. I love the picture!! Oh, and lasertag is really good thigh muscle exercise. Pity it was only 20 minutes. (From left: Laura, Jane, Joanne, CheeKin, Xiaobei)

5th March 2006
And, finally we were at Zilker Park today for the Zilker Kite Festival. And, when we were at Walmart yesterday, we bought a Care Bear kite. It's super nice, rite? I used to love Care Bear a lot. And, my little Care BEar used to sleep with me every nite. And, as you can see, the amount of crazy running involved in getting the kite into the air. 2nd Row last photo: The awards up during the kite festival. 3rd row first photo from left: Zilker park with all the Kite flyers having a picnic and the CBD skyline at the background. Oh.. and I love the last photo... The wonderful colours of the setting sky together with the kites flying up there... So pretty!!!CK was saying that the people here really know how to enjoy life. They really relax during their weekends, from doing picnics to watching basketball games, to chilling out at 6th street and hearing live music bands play at the different eateries. Ahh...

28th February 2006: Appetizer: Cambell's chunky potato garlic soup, super duper easy to prepare. Just dump into the microwave can already. It is great, BTW.

3rd March 2006: Entre: Pineapple rice, Pork Chop and Egg Drop Corn Soup. Yum yum... haha... on 3/3 eat 3 different kinds of food. So interesting rite? 3/3... Hmmm... NICe number, rite?

4th March 2006: Dessert: I wanna eat Tiff's treats!!! But, still, in the end, we didn't order. It is a DAY to REMEMBER as Texas celebrates its Independence Day with the Texas Independence Day Parade @ congress. Snack snack snack. Blazer Tag

It is only the beginning.

I saw Chris Tomlin live in concert!!! at the Austin Music Hall last saturday with Kim, Andre and CK.

Haha... Yupyup... Chris Tomlin was doing his tour and I think Austin was the last stop. It was really good hearing him live in concert, although I think the ticket price was a bit pricey. But, nonetheless it was a good time of worship, and yes, the sound was good. Too bad, we couldn't bring cameras inside. Matt redman was supposed to be performing at the concert too, but because of some stuff back at home, he had to fly off urgently, so he didn't perform urgently.

I particularly like the message sharing. It was about how small Earth really is compared to the whole universe. And, it really helped to bring back to perspective, that our God who loves us so much, and who created the WHOLE universe that is larger than what our wildest dreams can ever imagine, chose to send His son to our little planet to die for our sins. Imagine HIs love for us... there are so many other planets and galaxies, why did He have to bother about us puny little itsy bitsy humans? But, God did, and Jesus, in all HIs splendour and majesty, willing came down on Earth to suffer at the hands of the very ones He created, just to save them from eternal Hell and to give them eternal life. All this, just because man screwed up and made a mistake.

I love my God, my Father, my saviour, my King, my friend. For everything You, have done. For dying on the cross for my sins, for being my everything, for always seeing me through everything, for your unfailing love, for tahaning all my nonsense, for you being God.

How Great is Our God
The splendor of a King, clothed in majesty
Let all the earth rejoice
All the earth rejoice

He wraps himself in Light, and darkness tries to hide
And trembles at His voice
Trembles at His voice

How great is our God, sing with me
How great is our God, and all will see
How great, how great is our God

Age to age He stands
And time is in His hands
Beginning and the end
Beginning and the end

The Godhead Three in One
Father Spirit Son
The Lion and the Lamb
The Lion and the Lamb

How great is our God, sing with me
How great is our God, and all will see
How great, how great is our God

Name above all names
Worthy of all praise
My heart will sing
How great is our God (x2)

How great is our God, sing with me
How great is our God, and all will see
How great, how great is our God (x3)

People have been asking me if I have seen a real cow, or cowboy/cowgirl in Austin. Well, let's just say, Austin is not that much a cowboy town (like what you see in the movies) even though it is located in Texas. And, so, my closest brush with cows are...
And, yes, I do wanna see a real life cowboy and a real ranch too!!! But, I just haven't got the chance yet!!!

I pulled the girls with me to check out South Congress today. Well, cos it's the 1st Thursday of the month, and apparently every 1st thursday, there is a street party that goes on at South Congress. After dinner, we trooped down to South Congress in hope of catching the so called street party. There wasn't much information on the website about the actual location of the street party, only saying that it was along South Congress. So, no choice, we just had to walk up South Congress and see if there was any hint of any "street party" around. At first, there was no sign of activity, and we were seriously doubting whether we got the right information. It was only after a 15min walk then did we begin to see the action places.

So, what is South Congress' 1st Thursdays street party all about?
1) There's live music played at different eateries. And, you really get to see why some say that Austin is the capital of live music. And the music is really blasted loud, that walking along the sidewalk you can here the music from the restaurant from the opposite sidewalk!!! Now, imagine that all the restaurants are relatively close to each other, maybe about 5 shops at most away... Imagine the amount of music you are bombarded with. But, it really is an interesting experience.
2) Besides the music, there are stores being set up in courtyards, carparks etc. that are selling stuff. Mostly accessories, candles and all. It's something like a pasar malam, but not as tightly packed (thus more cooling) as a pasar malam and more esthetically appealing than a pasar malam. Hmmm... And for all you NUS ppl, it's like a bazaar that you see at Forum, except that the stores are in different tents. Okok... that's the best description I can give you. Why don't you see it for yourself?

3) Oh.. and the 3rd characteristic of 1st Thursday? The shops open till... ermm... 10pm. Yes... 10pm only. So, that's the reason for the street party. Stores opening till a bit later. You sense my lack of enthusiasm, don't you?

Nonetheless, all that walking worked up an appetite for... Tau Suan:
And, yes, I made this... I had no pandan leaves nor sweet potato starch nor brown sugar. I just had to make do with what I could get my hands on. But, it didn't taste that bad. Love the taste of the beans... Nice and chewy, not like those soft ones you find outside. Hehe... And, the you tiao? We bought that from the HK market. They came frozen, so Jane helped us to fry it. =)

HOT HOT HOT!!! IT's so HOT!!! I can't believe I'm actually writing that its hot here, well, cos I've been raving so much about the cool weather here. But, yes, today is so hot!! I think about 29 deg. Same as Singapore. Can't stand the heat man! Nontheless, there's always a brighter side to things. I finally got to wear my skirt after having worn jeans and pants for close to 2 months straight. Don't get me wrong, I love wearing jeans, pants, but I missed wearing my skirts. Back in Singapore, I could wear whatever I liked, whenever. So, to suddenly have to wear jeans and pants everyday for 2 months straight (cold mah... So, need to wear longs) made me miss the freedom of wearing skirts as and when I like it. Yupyup... Needless to say, knowing that it would be a hot day today (ever since I came here, I have had the habit of checking out the weather forecast to see how drastic the weather will change in the next 24hours) I wore my skirt!!! and my flip flops. Haha... The familiar feeling of wearing a skirt and flip flops... Reminds me of my hall days. Oh, although it's hot and I can feel the scorch of the sun, it's more bearable than in Singapore cos of the dry weather. You don't sweat so much and you don't get all sticky and yucky. Just, stay nice and dry...

The warm weather will be here to stay for the next few months. It won't be getting much colder unless the weather screws ups, after all, spring is here. And, talking of spring, I'm going to have my last few bits of really cold weather up in Chicago during spring break. Can't wait to see HL and Eileen!!! Wheee....