And many many more. :(
I can't decide if I should be looking forward to going home in 8 weeks, or to dread that my exchange experience is about to end in 2 months. Yes, I may be sentimental and homely, but I'll definitely miss Winnipeg, its slower pace of life and the many friends I've made here too. Maybe I'll even miss snow, although it's starting to get messy and ugly at times (sand is scattered over snow-covered walkways to increase traction, causing it to be brown and murky), and I think I might get tired of trudging in snow in 1-2 weeks' time. Haha.. but yes, part of me is really excited to be going home and meeting up with everyone again.
The list above is totally random, and it's amazing how small little things here can be different from back home yea? I was inspired to come up with it after my sleepover at Judy's place, when she asked all about Singapore and forced me to zoom into the tiny details. Heh.. 8 weeks my dear friends, 54 days more..!
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The recent little snippets of life in Winnipeg which I'll also miss:
Sleepover at Judy's place over the Remembrance Day public hol (11 Nov), where we attempted to make pecan pie. It was erm.. tasty, just that we didn't know why the middle was marshy and soft when it's supposed to set on its own. HAHA. We made a "home-cooked' dinner and a great hearty breakfast too! (Note: Dinner was made mostly with instant foods, even the salad was prepared using a salad starter kit pre-mixed with dressing and croutons..) But breakfast was a good spread, cos I was the head chef! Heh.
Booze and snacks pot-luck - the get-together we'd held at our place for our fellow international friends, during which we introduced Indian Poker and Circle of Death to the lot.
This is just a random choc bar that I tried recently - the Mr. 2 Big! Haha. :)
Which catches your attention first - music or lyrics?
This was what inspired me to write this post:
In reading up and researching for my film paper, I'd chanced across many interesting reviews and facts about the movies I'm writing about - Rashomon (Akira Kurosawa, 1950) and Sin City (Frank Miller, 2005) - and that's when I saw this! - "Kurosawa began his career in 1943 with a movie called Sugata Sanshiro, about a boy learning the meaning of life through Judo."
Haha.. that totally increased my respect and love for Kurosawa. Cos really, Rashomon's one of the most significant films in the history of cinema to date, an eloquent masterpiece which twisted and diverged from the usual narrative structure. It was also the single movie which, upon shooting to international stardom, revolutionized film language and turned the world's attention to Japanese (Asian) films, increasing their respect and appreciation for the East and their filmmakers.
Uh-oh, strayed a lil' too much. Supposed to write about Judo and its impact on me! Haha. Actually I just wanted to say that Judo'd been a most meaningful part of my life for the past 10 years from Sec 1 till now. It's not just about the people I've met, really, but whom I've become as a result of taking up the martial art. I've matured alot these years, knowingly and unknowingly. Being there for my juniors; helping and taking care of others - those were what'd shaped my personality, character and satisfaction in life - to be, or want to be a mentor and provide guidance to others. And of course, the dojo had been the single place where I've met some of my most cherished friends:
My teammates, having gone through thick and thin for many years we stood at the frontline together (literally, haha). My countless batches of juniors, whom I still cherish and hold dear after many years of graduation. And of course, and perhaps most importantly, Vicki, who was and is still more than a junior and friend to me. It all started when I became her training partner (who used to be 2 sacks of rice heavier than her), HAHA.. bleah. :)
So really, I would say Judo'd been (albeit dreary and tough at times) where I've forged many meaningful friendships and learnt about myself; it'd indeed taught me valuable lessons on motivation, discipline, endurance, relationships and many more. And now I suddenly feel like revisiting the dojo with familiar faces again..
So after an erratic fluctuation in temperatures last week (went back up to 10 deg C four days ago, then back to 0 deg C) - and trudging through the sloshy ice which felt like my favourite ice-blended frappuccino beneath my feet, haha - winter has officially arrived, and snow is here to stay! The below documents what I've done over my first winter weekend in Winnipeg..
Friday morning, 7 Nov - this was what I awoke to, though it no longer felt as euphoric as the time I first saw snow in Banff, haha. I practically drew the curtains and went, "Oh.. it's snowing.." - just like that, heh. But it was a pretty sight nevertheless; everywhere on-campus was wet/icy/snowy, and it's fun to walk through snow cos Winnipeg's snow really goes crunch-crunch-crunch (it's supposed to be driest amongst all Canadian snow!)! Haha.
I like the snow-covered tree trunks/branches and plants! It's all pretty and romantic somehow, though the unsightly heaps of piled-up shoveled snow along the sidewalks kinda spoil the scenery at times. I'd been so tempted to "sink deeply" into thick snow that I stepped unto one huge pile, only to find that it was just snow covering some sharp plants underneath :( Haha.
Noir Wine Bar, Osborne Village
Friday night we headed out to nua at Noir (haha sheesh, pardon the pun!). Judy drove us there; and omg, it was really scary to experience winter driving! We've heard that even locals themselves aren't too used to driving in initial winter road conditions when the first snowfall comes, cos it's hard to estimate start/stop timings effectively and people may just be over-confident of their driving. Whatever it is, our car too kept sliding and skidding, imagine a car ice-skating on the thin sheen of frost on the roads! Haha.. acceleration was difficult whenever we stopped too, cos the tyres get stuck most of the time - and oh, it was so cold that the car doors were frozen, we had to yank them out before they could open! Yikes.
We didn't take many pics for the night, and I think these are by far the nicest, haha.
After dinner we headed to Anne's place, hoping to build a nice big snowman in her backyard - we even made sure she had carrots for the nose la. Haha.. sadly though the snow wasn't sticky yet, so we couldn't and ended up trying to snowball fight instead. "Trying" is the word, cos it's really damn hard to roll a nice big snowball that wouldn't crumble! So I tried to be smart and made peace with the rest but, erm, I got backstabbed and no one listened to me. Bleah.. so I was defeated through and through! Even got snow splattered and smothered all over my face by Judy (see pic on the right for evidence).. ROAR! :(
P/S: See how adequately prepared we were with Anne's mittens and toques. Haha.. mittens are actually really cute and warm - no fingers, just grabbers. Christine, so no matter how funny we used to think they look, I might really go buy a pair in due time! Hehe.
Polo Park
Polo Park is Winnipeg's largest shopping mall, a place I'd wanted to visit and explore to see how it's like. Turned out my friends wanted to get some winter supplies over the weekend, so I tagged along!
Marcel and Momo from Germany, and Sepi my coffee + study partner, from Holland
I really didn't want to spend much money on winter stuff, even though I only had a bare minimum of supplies. But it wouldn't be practical to get something for such extreme weather and leave them lying around at home, right? Haha.. still, I was really tempted to try stuff on so I did. I think winter boots are really quite cool to strut around in (left pic), and the toque I'm wearing with those dangly lil' side things - used to think they looked weird but they are actually rather cute! Heh. :)
Left: Christine kept saying I should go vandalize cars by drawing on them! Tsk.. bad influence lor! Haha.
Right: These are 2 very cool liquors - Godiva white choc cream liquer, and Goldschlager (I think it's whiskey), but it has real gold bits floating in them! Akin to a giant (gold) snowglobe! We stocked up a little on liquor cos it's convenient to drink a little to keep warm, and we were hoping to have more chillaxing sessions with one another since the term's ending pretty soon. :(
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So I guess it's colder than cold right now, so cold it's hard to describe in words. Haha.. and it'll only get worse from now on!! I actually shiver quite a bit outside and am normally still shaken for awhile when I reach home.. :( 救命啊.
j'adore les films français 11:36 AMCinemental, Winnipeg's annual French film festival - 5 to 9 Nov 08.
Hey, I like French films. Not that I know much about them, but watching Mr. Average back in Cathay's Cinema Europa, and learning about the French New Wave and Neo Noir genre in film class - I just really like the unique plot and aesthetic appeal of such Films. And, even more so, to put what I've learnt to practice and interpret films in a different perspective. So when I heard of Cinemental from my Prof, I decided to rope in a couple exchange students to join the fun and engage in a little "cultural immersion".
The screening was to be held near St. Boniface, the French settlement in the city, at the CCFM, the Center-Culturel-Franco-Manitobain (pronounced saun-terr-koo-choo-rare-l-frung-ko-manito-bung, haha). We ventured out on a long and arduous journey under the treacherous weather - yes, it was a horrible and scary adventure cos of the icy rains and fast chilly winds that hurt our faces and ears. It was supposed to start snowing the following day (Friday), so precipitation was expected. But the temperatures were not sufficiently low enough to turn the ice into snow, so it all fell as sleet and my, it was damn painful! We also had to walk in the murky sloshy ice (which is really ugly btw) and it was all slippery and wet.. rah. :(
Ok la, it was just horrid at that point in time, but in retrospect a unique experience after all (though once is enough, but I foresee more coming..). And all was good and worthwhile too, when we caught a good meal in a mid-atas French restaurant, Resto-Gare! Oh my.. haven't had proper meals in ages! Haha.
Left to right: Serene (Canadian and AIMS buddy to Julie), Julie (French - first person I invited cos we'd been wanting to hang out and I know she'd be interested in this, haha), Marleen (Dutch)
As with all French restaurants, Resto-Gare serves good wines (I didn't try though!) and breads. When the owner first saw us coming in, he commented "Wow, you look like you just came from the Arctic!" - hence the picture.
Cinemental poster - I like the watermelon piano, heh.
We watched Delice Paloma, a feature film by Nadir Mokneche. I won't go into detail on story and plot here, but I just feel that French films provide a very intriguing perspective and heighten audience's expectations with their twists in climaxes. Definitely not the usual Hollywood Classical style of filmmaking we're conditioned and used to (which, to put simply and summarize from film class - is about getting the narrative over and done with, paying little attention to aesthetics, cinematography and the beauty of the image). Yep.. French filmmakers adopt a Formalist style most of the time; the storyline may develop slow and gradual, but whatever's onscreen can always be appreciated on a deeper level through their use of various subtle techniques. Heh. I'm actually putting what I've learnt to interpret stuff better onscreen now, and I'm proud of that. :)
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I'd thought of sharing some interesting stuff I'd learnt, since I'm at the topic of films. But this is already long overdue and I don't really want to bore you out, so I won't. :( I do hope to do well for film class anyway - sometimes I feel inadequate and struggling just cos of the limited exposure I've had to films - but my Prof'd mentioned it's prolly cos of the censorship in Singapore that I haven't heard of movies he discusses. Still, it's reassuring to hear that he doesn't worry about me cos I'm genuinely interested and keen on learning. So that's nice. The course is just so reflective and enriching; one day I'll try to revisit and re-evaluate films I'd passed off previously as juvenile, dumb, or cheap flicks! Haha.
Trivia on horror films from the West
The evil never dies in Western horror films just because filmmakers always attempt to go for a sequel - and really, it's just that and nothing else. In fact, sometimes the Director has no say at all cos the Producer's the money guy, and is in fact more important than the Director in determining many things that'll develop in a movie. Oh, and I commented that Asian horror flicks are always so much better than Western ones, and my Prof agrees - filmmakers here attempt to model their horror films after the Asians', but they are never as good (just look at The Ring, tsk).. haha.
Au voir for now!