What makes this experience here in the United States so special is the locals and I believe that in traveling it is the local people that will make the trip a more fulfilling one. Those that I have met should it be either our graduate mentors, our lecturers, our host family or even the local towns people, they have really gave me the opportunity to learn so much about them.

After all that is said and done, I have only one conclusion and it is that the American people are one of the nicest, most honest and strong people I have ever met.

Thank you Dr.Foster, Dr.Jackson, Mrs. Foster, Mrs. Jackson, Drew, Cary, Onur, Joel, Jennifer, Dr.Brown, Emily, Selin, the Wagners and to all those who had work so ahrd to made our experience an unforgettable one.

To the people of the United States, I say this to you for I shall return…one day.

This may be a late update on my part. Been really busy with the program so it is pretty difficult to find time to sit down, edit pictures and write my post. In anycase, on the second weekend in the US, as a part of the program we were then be staying for a night with a local family in Chester, Illinois as part of a homestay activity.

I had the proud pleasure to be staying with the Wagners with Billy from the Phillippines as two participants will be staying with each family. To be honest, I had no idea what to expect before I met them. What would they think of me? Would  I mess things up? Would I embarrass myself?

In the end of the day, the answer was no. The Wagners they were great!!!
The Wagners are decended from German immigrants during the 1800s and had settled on the very same land for way over 150 years. Spending most of their life in Chester, our host father Ronnie or Ron Wagner works as a trucker for a local food manufacturing company and travels the entire continental United States distributing food items while Cindy Wagner our host mother works at the courthouse in Chester together with Barb Brown our host for some parts of the program.

The Wagners are what they would call a typical working class American family living in a small town in the heart of the United States. Living with them gave an interesting insight on how a family in live and operate together here.

Individualism is ingrained in the American culture and can be seen as family members usually live far from each other due to work or other reasons. But as a family, they are very close and tight knit. They would always sit together for meal or had intellectual discussions about current events.

Ron Wagner had prepared a few catfish for dinner for us by catching it from his fish pond he had dug a few years ago. It was a wonderful meal eating with them. It was simple but very healthy. In fact, I have now changed my opinion on the American diet. There would always be vegetable at every meal.

It is interesting to also notice on how informed that most Americans are on current issues and world events. They are very opinionated and also very vocal to the happenings around them even though as normal citizens they are mostly powerless to governmental decision making. Apparently, most Americans have no idea on how ex-President Bush could have won another term in office but then…meh…so did everyone else around the world.

Overall, although we did not do anything overly exciting or dramatic, it was relaxing and by talking and interacting with them we both shared our views and got to know each others culture a little better. It was really an unforgetable experience that I would never forget and I would continue to keep in contact with them for as best as I can.

Thank you Wagners.

P/s: That dear head you see in the first picture is REAL. It was shot on a hunting trip earlier this spring. Trying to sleep while having it look at you is not very does not make it any better mind you. XP

The 4th of July is a day in which Americans regardless of faith, race or even ideology set aside their differences to celebrate their victory against evil alien invaders that blasted most major cities around the globe independence from British colonial rule and at this year’s celebration we got a taste of what it is like to celebrate Independence Day.

To see and experience how a small community celebrate the 4th of July, we were taken to Kaskaskia Island located in Randolph County in Southern Illinois. Kaskaskia Island was once a major French colonial town and then it became  the first state capital of Illinois. Now it just has a very sparse population surrounded by farmland.

As we arrived there was already a small crowd gathered at the site of the Kaskaskia Bell or also known as the Liberty Bell of the West. It was given by the then King of France to the people of Kaskaskia. A high school band was playing music and people were just sitting around some having something to eat and some just talking to each other waiting for the ceremony to start.

The ceremony was started with a presentation of colors by the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion, two military veterans groups based in the area.

Then there were the usual speeches, singing of the national anthem, a firing salute, the ringing of the bells of the Church of the Immaculate Conception and more singing. A special tributes was also given to the military veterans present for their service to their country. It is interesting to see how a small and I mean a really small community come together from all over the place to this small venue that is literally in the middle of nowhere.

Barb Brown, the Master of Ceremonies

Barb Brown who was the Master of Ceremonies also works for the small town of Chester helped to organize this trip for us. It was certainly an eye opener for us on how patriotic the ordinary American can be.

The Kaskaskia Bell

After the ceremony was over we then went to Fort Kaskaskia which was a site that the French build a fort upon and was destroyed in a battle with the British. The view from this hill site was magnificent as we can see the entire Mississippi river below cutting across the plains.

Soloist Taylor Crum. She sang the patriotic songs during the ceremony. Yes, I'll rather put her pic up than the old dude standing behind her. Hehehe.

Lunch was provided by Barb Brown’s family which I do not mind saying time and time again served the most mouth watering delicious hamburgers that I had ever tasted in my life. It was all home made and home cooked and boy, was it good.

The view from Fort Kaskaskia.

Later on after lunch, we went down the hill to visit the home of the first Lieutenant Governor of Illinois, Pierre Menard. His home is one of the very few surviving structures from the early part of the area’s history. An earthquake during the 18th century changed the flow of the Mississippi river and dramatically changed the landscape in the process.

Although some parts of the house is rebuilt, the furniture are all authentic from that era.

We also had an chance to watch a fireworks display organized by the local Lions Club in Carbondale just near the old football stadium located next to campus. Although it’s not as grand as a multimillion dollar fireworks display it was still impressive non the less.

Attempting to take pictures of fireworks makes me realize on how much work I still need to work on.

It was a wonderful but ridiculously tiring day and finding time to blog about so many things that happens is tiring enough as it is.I just hope that the next update would be faster.

Apparently, if you ever had a physical education while growing up in the US you would have definitely learned, heard or even most probably played baseball. Alongside Basketball and (American) Football it has one of the biggest followings here in the United States and is also the official national sport of the country.

At the end at the first week we had an opportunity to attend a Minors League baseball game between the Southern Illinois Miners and the Oakland County Cruisers. We arrived around 7pm in the evening and it was warm day although it’s much better than the tsundere weather we have back home.

The atmosphere was filled with excitement and fun for the whole family. It was almost a full house as we arrived as most tickets was already sold out and we had to sit at the grassy area at the end of the field. Visibility sucks though but the tickets was already sold out the week before so there’s nothing that can be done. We had to sit on the grass at the edge of the field behind the fences.

Believe it or not. This picture was taken at 7.30pm local time. Sunny isn't it?

I literally can’t see much but then again I’m just there to learn about the sport and to seep in the atmosphere. The food was remarkably pricey here, especially the beer.

Mega nachos and a corn dog = USD9.00

It was kinda fun to watch and learn about America’s national pastime but unfortunately, we had to leave before the game was over as it was past the 10th innings and there was no conclusion yet. Not to mention most of us were feeling chilly under the night sky.

A special thanks to Cary for explaining to me how the game works.Now I finally understand that the pitcher doesn’t have to shout out the attack name while trowing the ball. *SUPER TORNADO FLAMING FLYING DRAGON!!!!!!*

Cary is a big St.Louis Cardinals fan if you haven't notice. (it's a baseball team! XP)

]]> http://clowonline.com/2010/07/10/the-great-american-pastime/feed/ 0 http://clowonline.com/2010/07/07/susi-classes-and-such/ http://clowonline.com/2010/07/07/susi-classes-and-such/#comments Wed, 07 Jul 2010 03:59:13 +0000 clow http://clowonline.com/?p=1047
After a short briefing/orientation session and getting our documents in checked, we finally started  our classes located at the social science building called Faner Hall a short walk away from the dorms. The Study of the U.S. Institute’s New Media program is spearheaded by Dr.John Foster and Dr.John Jackson both from the Political Science Department of Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

From left: Dr. John Jackson, Dr. John Foster and Dr. John Jackson's wife

It really is interesting on how much I love attending classes compared to the ones back home. Not only that the topics are ridiculously interesting, the way that it is presented really pulls my interest and stimulates the mind. I so hope classes would last longer here which is such an opposite back home. Now I see why the education system here is of such high standards.

They and I mean the system isn’t designed to kill your interest and create mindless subservient drones, they nurture it. I’ve asked more questions in class than I have ever done in my entire primary and secondary education combined. It’s been almost a week of classes and I’m always looking forward for more.

Our gradute mentors. From left: Joel, Selin, Jennifer, Cary, Drew and Onur.

A small reception was also held in our honor with the mayor of Carbondale Brad Cole and various staff past and present from the university attending. It was a small get to know each other session as we were also introduced to our lecturers who would be getting more than they had hope for teaching us for the next few weeks.

The Malaysia delegation with the president of SIU. From the right: Faizal, Sabina, Joanne, Glenn Poshard, Fareeza, Farah, Ridwan and me of course. XD

It was somewhat agonizing physically to me that is on the journey but it wasn’t as bad as Joann who had her entire luggage lost by the airline company. She had to go through almost a week without new clean clothes. Its something nobody has to go through at all.

Being in the United States didn’t really hit until we landed in St.Louis. The situation in San Francisco felt more like being in Singapore than anything else as there were so many Asians around. Felt a bit like home really.

Once arrived at St.Louis Airport we were picked up by our graduate mentors Onur and Jeniffer who drove us 2 hours south of St.Louis to the small city of Carbondale. After checking into our dorms at the Southern Illinois University Carbondale we heard that the Indonesian group were going to be late as some of them were detained in customs and missed their flight. Racial profiling perhaps? Maybe. Gonna talk about this in a later post.

All the Indonesian group finally arrived at about 2am local time though. The first night was cold and I mean freezing cold. It rained a little that night but I think the major problem was with the very cold air conditioning. Shivered like crazy and had to use an extra towel as a blanket. Found out too late in the morning that there was an “off” switch on the said air conditioner though. Dammit.

From left: Fareeza, Farah, Joann, Faizal, Sabina, Ridwan and me.

It has been quite a tiring journey and I’m still having a bit of a jet lag right now. The people here have been great and very friendly. A big difference from the usual antics we have back home. Gonna stop for now.

Next update: Classes and such.

Arriving at Changi we checked in at a transit hotel but because we checked in our bags earlier we cannot collect them unless we leave the transit area pass immigration. The problem was if we went out to collect our bags we cannot go back in as our boarding passes was only allowed to be collected before the flight itself. Due to that really incredible rule I’m now left with the same T-shirt I’ve been wearing the entire day without a change of clothes or even my long sleeve shirt for the long duration flight.

Seriously, WTF???!!!! and FML!. On the bright side, the airport offers free Wifi and the inside of the duty free area looks like a mini shopping mall. Damn the liquor and cigarettes are cheap. So gonna get a few bottles on the way home after this.

Looks like football fever does not stop even the busiest of travelers. There’s a few spots in the airport organised by the airport authorities itself that gives guest an opportunity to watch the World Cup live. A great idea if I do say so myself if  you’re on the go. Thats actually quite considerate of them.

Looking how I do not have anything/anyone to hug to keep the cold away I hope they would give me a blanket soon. Gonna try to stay awake tonight so I can sleep on the plane. Plane departs at 7am and its gonna be a 20 hour flight to St.Louis’s airport. I predict my butt is gonna die and my entertainment supply will only last me for so long. I think I’m gonna dread this journey…I really think so….

Next stop…Narita Airport.

Had a chance last weekend to do some random simple cooking with Joey. Made a simple no-baking cheesecake but since Joey was craving for some Oreo’s we made an Oreo Cheese by substituting the biscuit base with Oreo’s instead. Haven’t tried making a cheesecake before although had been observing both my mom and sis while they were making it before. It ended up pretty well actually. Tasted kinda good although we forgotten to add the vanilla essence into it while mixing. I knew I forgotten something. Decorated with some banana’s found in the kitchen and it was done in less than an hour. Its amazing what you can do with a hammer and a plastic ziplock bag in cooking.

Recipe after the jump.

Recipe:

2 blocks of Philadelphia cream cheese
1/2 cup sugar
Butter
Oreo cookies
Vanilla essence

We also made garlic bread from scratch for fun. Well okay… so I just cut the bread but I did baked them in the oven so I did help! Yummy garlic bread is yummy!!!!

Recipe:

1 loaf Baguette
chopped garlic
parsley
oregano
butter

Maybe I’ll try making something a little harder when I get back from the trip. Deep fried Guinea Pigs perhaps? XP

1. A full formal suit.
2. Playstation 3. <—–I foresee this coming sooner then I expect.
3. A wardrobe upgrade. <—-I so need to get better clothes.
4. A new handphone!!! Preferably an Iphone but not likely.
5. A HD pc monitor with a new 1T hard disk.
6. My internets….

Why 6 you might add? Its because I can.

I’m now having my so called holidays after months of controlled chaos. Its starting more like becoming a driver ferrying people around and doing random task here and there. I need to get some 12 hours sleep and lie down marathoning anime the entire day to call it a holiday. Hopefully its gonna be more relax in the coming weeks. Still have to deal with quite a few backlogged work. Urgh…

In other news, looks like I’ll be heading off to Illinois in a months time. Well, its Southern Illinois University Carbondale to be exact for the Study of the US Institute program in New Media I got selected for not long ago. Looks like I’m gonna be going right smack to the center of the North American Continent. This is gonna be one very interesting 5 weeks of my life and I’m gonna mention it again by saying that I’ll be sharing with you my few readers on what I will be learning about, seeing and experiencing on my blog and also on Twitter(hopefully) as log as i have an internet connection that is.

Speaking of internet connections, I’m upgrading my internet connection which has one very troublesome process of doing to a higher speed so no internet at home for the meantime while the upgrade is being done. This is such a bitch in having go through internet withdrawal every few hours. Urgh…but it does feels nice to post random stuff though. XD

*This is a pre-scheduled post.*

The first day was to be honest an unexpected uncontrollable headache. The university apparently decided to have an open day on the very same time and the actual venue for GACC was pushed to the nearby classrooms which was hot, small, cramped and ridiculously hot. Did I mention hot? Cause it was like HOT! The air-conditioning was futile with the large amounts of visitors packed into the small makeshift venue. The MC’s both veterans of the ACG community were however there to lighten up the mood and try to create a fun atmosphere.

Then came the usual mix of activities that one would have expect from a large ACG event such as stage performances, competition and tournaments. The second day was a relief as the GACC committee was finally allowed to use the Examhall and to the relief of the visitors as well as it was fully air-conditioned. Cosplayers and the number of visitors were well below the amount seen in previous years. I guess maybe it was just at the wrong timing and the long distance from Kuala Lumpur. In any case, it was still a memorable event with friends meeting up and enjoying themselves with the ongoing activities in and out of the hall.

Yes, I know this isn’t much of a review but I was busy manning the the Anime Depot and the Emina booth. Besides I was too damn tired anyways. My head was spinning the entire weekend I was there. Too bad for me I guess. Be cause of that I really wasn’t able to take much pictures that I would like too. Now that was dissappointing to say the least.

In other news, I’ve finally made a proper watermark for all my future picture uploads. Looks way better than the previous one. As I’ve mentioned previously, I did not have much of a chance to take pictures of cosplayers and the like during my time at GACC but take a look at some of those that I did. Did some experimental photoshop. Kinda like how it turned out. As usual, comments and constructive criticism is very much appreciated.

[View with PicLens]

Sony A350 with kit lens. I so need to get myself a flash unit for the camera…sigh.