So many roads, so many detours; so many choices, so many mistakes. As we drive along this road called life, occasionally a girl would find herself a little, lost. And when that happens, I guess she has to let go of the could-haves, should-haves, would-haves - buckle up and just keep going. As we speed along this endless road to the destination called “who we hope to be”, I can’t help but whine, “Are we there yet?”
-- This does parallel with what I wrote about the last time - when will enough ever be enough? Time really doesn't wait, and maybe, just maybe, there is danger indeed in waiting to live the life one really wants. As BBM students at the crossroads of our lives, what will happen after we graduate? After all, we could easily spend the next 35 years of our lives climbing up the corporate ladder, accumulating wealth and experience, but only to find it leaning against the wrong wall at the end.
Of course, I'm not trying to say that we should abandon our dreams, not be ambitious nor attempt to self-actualize. But at this point in our lives, it is essential to think maturely and plan ahead, considering all choices, sacrifices, options and decisions. After all, the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step; and this is our time.
(One of my Profs here shared the story of the Mexican Fisherman which intrigued the above thought in me, and I think it's worthy to share.)
The Mexican Fisherman
An American tourist was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellowfin tuna. The tourist complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them.
The Mexican replied, "Only a little while."
The tourist then asked, "Why didn't you stay out longer and catch more fish?"
The Mexican said, "With this I have more than enough to support my family's needs."
The tourist then asked, "But what do you do with the rest of your time?"
The Mexican fisherman said, "I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siesta with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos, I have a full and busy life."
The tourist scoffed, "I am a Harvard MBA, and I can help you. You should spend more time fishing; and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat. With the proceeds from the bigger boat you could buy several boats. Eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor; eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing and distribution. You could leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then Los Angeles and eventually New York where you could run your ever-expanding enterprise."
The Mexican fisherman asked, "But, how long will this all take?"
The tourist replied, "15 to 20 years."
"But what then?" asked the Mexican.
The tourist laughed and said, "That's the best part. When the time is right you would sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions."
"Millions?...Then what?"
The American said, "Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siesta with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos."
The Association of International Management Students (AIMS) and the exchange coordinator, Tara Cleve, held an orientation session for us exchange students on Tuesday evening. We were at St John's College (another ulu building on campus) for an informal introduction/information session before heading downtown for what AIMS called, the "Welcome to Winnipeg Night", where we'd booze and rock ourselves silly during ktv.
Anyway, St John's College has a chapel in it, and there are classes actually conducted in the chapel itself! It's funnily weird and even the locals don't get it - don't religious people find it offensive anyway? Anyhow, there are signs all over St John's telling people where/how to find the chapel, and it's really quite amusing (see picture).
"Come in a turn right" / "Chapel straight ahead" / "The Chapel is behind you" / "Congrats! You've found the Chapel!"
We saw some Arts students sitting on a more-realistic Campus Green sketching as well, quite a nice sight (but imagine them having to do that in the cold, yikes!)
Orientation: free pizzas with exotic flavours (like "Ham and Pine", which is essentially Hawaiian obviously, and "Surprise!", with all kinds of toppings!)
Our Dutch friends who went Chinatown with us, and the whole mix of AIMS buddies and exchange students.
We headed downtown to Osborne Village thereafter, which was quite happening. According to the local students, this is quite a good place for fashionable shopping and good Fusion food! Yay! Another sign of city life, haha..
The Academy, where we went for drinks, and AGIT Karaoke - there were English Japanese Chinese and Korean songs! But erm, the MTVs for the English songs are equally pirated like those in Kbox (just that over here they feature Korean calafares instead), hahaha.
The Academy
With the AIMS people - Dylan, Natalie, Sara, Stephanie, Chantale (left to right not counting me and Js)
Sandy from the Netherlands, Christian from Germany
I think Js got abit high and happy, haha
AGIT Karaoke - oh, we didn't pay anything at all for our songs! Apparently you only had to pay if you bought drinks..
In case you're wondering what I sang, I went for a slow ballad - Angels by Robbie Williams! And everyone was so supportive and sporting too, clapping and waving their hands for me lehhh. I must have been good, hahaha.
Then Js pulled me along to sing Kung Fu Fighting with him.. tskk.. I could only manage the background music for him! And I also helped to form a BSB gang to sing Everybody with some of the girls, haha.
The night ended at 11plus cos we had to catch the last bus back to campus. And we saw this really nice and atas bakery, called Baked Expectations. The locals say it's a must-try! Its cakes are huge and really look very tasty, costs about CAD 6-9 per slice but I'll definitely indulge and try one day, yummm!
Some humongous cookie cake on the left (the whole base is made of cookie pieces), and Oreo cheesecake
"How will you ever choose?"
Today's the first sessions for my other 2 modules, and here are some thoughts about what I've experienced in class.
First of all, no one brings laptops to class! (Anyway, there aren't any powerpoints available too..?) Haha.. really, this needs to have a little getting used to. And what if I no longer can sit through 3-hour seminars in SMU when I return??? gosh.
BUT its good that lessons are 1hr plus per session though, cos the seats here are really not-very-comfortable. Hmm let's see.. it's like our normal plastic chairs, just that they are attached to the long seminar table (like what we have in SMU, the tables I mean, just that they're lower here). So thing is, the chairs can be swiveled around, but only at awkward pivot positions since they're fixed, and some chairs even sink and rock weirdly so it gets quite squeaky and uncomfy at times.. haha.
Good thing is, class participation here seems more dynamic! People really speak their minds you know, and it's interesting hearing what they say. For example, during Personal Financial Planning, the Prof went round and asked what our financial goals were, and bold comments like "I want to be a millionaire by 30" shot up; probably things we'll rarely hear in Singapore. Someone even said he wished to own his own cottage and a spaceship as well, which was really amusing especially when the Prof played along. And well, I said to pay off my debts and have extra cash on hand to invest, as well as give back to my parents (and my Prof was very happy with the parents' part, haha).
Small Business Management was engaging too, although the course outline will have a slight overlap with Entrepreneurial Finance, urgh. We had self-introductions today and I made the class laugh over a comment I said about Winibread, haha. And something interesting too, was that a local guy actually gave me his namecard and asked me to join his group! He thought that I'll be an asset to the team because I've done EF.. wow. Actually quite scary.. but honoured eh. Who ever thought a full-time student would approach an exchange student to form groups?! Haha.
Oh, and people here are really open-minded about being "retained" or staying in school for many years. In fact, there are several people I've met who are already in their 6th or 7th year, just because they'd "spent 1-2 years in computer engineering and hated it", or "took 2 years off to work". There was even a Business student in his 4th year who is still major-less! I don't know what to make of this (if some students generally do not look too far ahead?), but for one thing they aren't ashamed of speaking their minds and being open about themselves.
xx
Alright, that's enough for classes. Anyway, it was a pretty good day cos of several things too:
Before class: Started my day off with hitting the gym (or rather, the tiny fitness room downstairs in residence). The facilities were minimal, but at least there was a treadmill, a bicycle and my skipping rope. I also sent my postcards out!
After class: Decided to check out the library's book collections (as well as course reserves to see if my textbooks are available, since buying is so expensive). I settled a few other things for myself too, then headed to University Centre to check out the bookstores. Turns out that they sell some really good books here, amongst which is Alvin Toffler's "Future Shock", which only costs CAD 10! Will get it sometime soon! :)
And then.. I bumped into the Koreans and Dutch, and discovered there was a "Taste of the World" food-fair event by UMSU today, offering free food of all cuisines! Hmm.. it felt that people here are kiasu too.. scrambling all over to pile food on their plates (I wasn't like that)! Haha.. and I got to speak with the students manning the Taiwanese food booth, who are also full-time students from the Taiwanese Students' Association. They spoke about a Mid-Autumn celebration next week, and I intend to join!
So ergo, it really felt good to wander around in the cool Fall season, increasingly familiarizing myself with the school surroundings and doing things at my own pace, just for myself! :)
I didn't know what to title this post, and it is a result of this entangled state of emotions I have been in over the past 2-3 days. People all know how emotional I can get, and yes, somehow or other I'm missing home quite abit and it's tough when the nights seem lonely and I'm in my room, typing and thinking about all the dear things I miss back home. And it doesn't help that it's getting colder either, cos it just makes things really miserable at times :(
It is amazing, actually puzzling, to realize that people do contradict themselves most of the time. I say that cos we are always yearning for something else, something better - people back from exchange envy me that I'm here now, whereas I somehow wished I weren't this cold and am back in sunny Singapore. Isn't it all overwhelming that every little thing in life seems to be a choice, a decision; something that affects who we are and what we feel? I want to snack, but I don't want to get fat. I need to run, but it's cold outside and I don't think I can survive. Rah.
At the risk of sounding myopic and that I'm not liking this at all, this is not totally true. On reflection now, I attribute my state of emotions to the fact that I have just arrived exactly a week ago, and am still in the transitory state of getting used to things. To the cold, to the place, to the people, to the long walking distances, to the not-very-efficient transportation system - so much so that things get tad frustrating and tiring at this stage. That is why I felt homesick and lonely perhaps, and since I moved in only a few days ago it's impossible to have made that many friends. But one day, a week or two from now, I should be getting used to things and it will all be better.
xx
So well, the joy of absolutely nothings happened yesterday (Saturday). It was cold and we didn't really want to head out to grocery-shop, so we stayed home and nua-ed. I called Christine and talked about the BCG career talk she attended, which motivated me to read up on my articles on consulting, something that I'd sought out to do with my personal time on exchange. I also called Evi, the nocturnal owl who was still awake at 5am in Singapore, and we gossiped and talked about job-hunting too. And there was of course Vicki who brightened me up with her self-made jokes and riddles and she's gonna write a book on that someday (See, free advertisement leh)! It felt so good to be in touch with my friends - even though I'm here and far away, it doesn't mean I have to lead a life totally separate from home. :)
Anyway, there was Sex and the City on TV at night too! It's from a season that I've yet to watch online, but I was happy to watch it anyhow. And then, suddenly, it just felt so good to be in control of my personal time, having a whole day to myself, snuggling in bed at night with remote control in one hand and a good book in another.
P/S: I am not a couch potato! After all, personal time is also very important, and what's essential then is to balance that with my interacting with people and making friends. Yep.. I will gradually make things better for myself.
this other side of town 11:06 PMHaving talked about Downtown, here are some pictures from this ulu other side of Winnipeg where I live in, just to show you the stark contrast and the surroundings that I wake up to. I managed to capture these today while walking an hour to the grocery store (a.k.a. the Real-Canadian Superstore). Do scroll all the way to the bottom!
On campus
Can you spot a puny me in the 2nd picture?! Haha.. and I like it that buildings here are "brick-ish", at least different from SMU's glassy and city-centre finish.
Erm.. I'm still in both of these pictures. The building is huge!
University Centre - most facilities are located here, including the bookstore, pharmacy, Tim Horton's donuts, a pub called Wise Guys etc. Some of the offices are here too. And this bus-stop's right opposite the AVM residence, which is where I stay.
Tache Hall (another residence hall on campus), and Tier Building
UMSU stands for The University of Manitoba Students' Union. This is a shuttle "bus" that runs every weekend for residence students to hitch a ride to the grocery store and back. Seriously we didn't know that it was gonna be so small, haha. So we couldn't get on anyway and decided to walk.. -_-
This is the long route which takes us at a good half-hour to walk out from residence, before we hit the main road outside.
Off campus
Pembina Highway (the main road)
Lots of space, greenery and beautiful skies. Winnipeg's a really sunny place too so it is quite nice to stroll outside and enjoy the scenery (only that it's getting real cold so it's horrible at times)..
A favourite haunt, Value Village - it is a used-item store and so far we've gotten pots and pans and some other 2nd-hand items at really cheap prices, e.g. less than 5 CAD each!
A Malaysian-looking "All Canadian Family Thrift Store", as well as the The Real-Canadian Superstore. Shopping here is mostly limited to these kinda places, so it is a really different experience (even downtown does not offer much shopping I heard). Good thing is, I probably won't spend so much then :)
At the Superstore: Singapore sauce?!?! And this morning I dreamt I was eating prata, when my alarm clock woke me up! Brr.. then apparently I saw popiah skins and prata today.. got me excited for awhile but we didn't get any though.
Okay this post is long cos of all the pictures and the lack of collages to summarize them all. But yea.. this is the place Wini's in, in Winnipeg!
winnipeg's chinatown 9:58 PMWinnipeg has an immense downtown for a city its size. Centred around Portage Avenue and Main Street, it includes Winnipeg's exchange district, The Forks, and Chinatown. We decided to explore Chinatown on Friday with fellow exchange students from the Netherlands, in hope of finding some exotic Asian treasures (i.e. food and groceries). There are 3 of them; 2 of Chinese and Indonesian descent respectively, that's why they were interested in Asian foodstuffs like us.
Downtown Winnipeg is very different from where we are right now - for once in my first week here, I saw high-rise buildings! And really, that's cos the university's located in a suburban area, so it looks like an ulu little town. Anyhow, majestic brick buildings and banks towered over us, finally breathing the slightest hint of a city. Strangely though, it still isn't as bustling as back in Singapore; there are fewer people, fewer vehicles, and definitely it still felt less busy and stressful.
But frankly, I can't say much right now cos I haven't really visited the must-see places of interest in downtown yet. So let me concentrate on narrating my founded treasures from Chinatown, which is really the intended highlight of this post! We saw an Oriental Market, and lo and behold, a whole array of familiar brands, foods, sauces and all lay before our very eyes, even mooncakes, which I have been craving for since MAF is coming! Anyway, I think it's a common thing to swoon about Asian stores man, I still remember Luyi and Kaykey rattling on about the Ah Chau grocery store with its frozen dim sum in Switzerland.. haha.
The street signs here have little hints of Chinese in them, with the lantern and even a Year of the Rat sign! Quite cute.. and the pic to the right below shows a cutesy Chinese telephone booth too.. haha.
Oriental Market, aka hua2 sha4
Yeo's, Maggi, Lee Kum Kee, Asian Home Gourmet... drinks include Vitasoy and other green teas, apple teas etc.! The Vitasoy even has red bean, yam and other "Asian" flavours..
Happily shopping, and then a good Chinese (albeit super alot of MSG) dinner at Wang Jiao restaurant
My treasures for today include my white lotus yolk mooncakes, winter-melon tea and 1 yan-yan, and oh, we bought 5 packets of Indo-Mie mee goreng too! hahahaha.
Some pictures of downtown for now:
Near Portage Place, and I like the picture to the right..
Some parts of the exchange district
Okay, more pics to come when I revisit Downtown again!