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.

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.

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.*