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Sunday, December 5, 2010

My test paper

Yesterday, my professor finally gave us back our test paper.
She was calling out each person's name so he/she can go down to collect his/her paper.
"Philip.. Nicholas... Jeremy..."
Suddenly she paused and asked "how do I pronounce this?"
After the professor gave out everyone's paper, I realised I haven't got mine. I went down to the professor and then I realised that the "how do I pronounce this" paper was mine.

























I thought my name is easy to pronounce. Similar to Wellington right?

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Skiing


Skiing was a horrifying experience for me.
It was my first time trying to ski at Mont Tremblant. Unforgettable, but don't think I want to try it again.


Sunday, November 28, 2010

My first snowman



















This is my first snowman outside my window. Sorry if it doesn't look like one. Just imagine it to be. :P

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Speaking English

A lot of people do not know that our first language is English.

*Incident one*
I went to NY last week.. at the customs.. I presented my passport and the lady told me that I have to fill up the Green Card..

"Which language do you like?"
"English"
"We have a wide variety of languages you can choose from.. are you sure you want it in English?"
At that point, I was so tempted to ask "Do you have Singlish?"

*Incident two*
I met a chinese girl on the shuttle bus. After some greetings, she asked me in Chinese to speak a few sentences in Singapore language (说几句新加坡语). I gave her puzzled look and asked "Singapore language?" (什么新加坡语?)
She asked "What language do you speak in Singapore?"
I replied "English."
She gave a surprised face and said "Oh."


Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Second Happiest place?

I remember during one of the talks before school start, when one of the speakers said "Welcome to Montreal..... Montreal is the second happiest place in the world according to Lonely Planet."(First was Vanuatu). While everyone was wondering where is the happiest place in the the world, I thought of what my professor said when I was in year 2.

One day, I popped into my professor's office. Looking straight into my eyes, he asked "What does success mean to you?" I said "Being happy." He nodded and said "Some people told me that it means getting a good job, some think it means getting good grades." He paused, looked at me and said "Most importantly, you have to be happy."





















People in Montreal r happy, but r they successful?
The lion is looking at u. It is not the merlion but it reminds me of the merlion. hehe. ;)

Ottawawawa...

I went to Ottawa on Saturday...
Nothing much but I heard it is nicer in Spring because of the beautiful Tulips.. all I got to see now were the Tulips' stems.

Anyway.. I walked past Starbucks and saw these words .. so nice right? hehe.

Rhubarb??

I bought the wrong jam.. Rhubarb? What is that?



















Nonetheless, I spread the jam on my bread and ate my bread very happily. The jam was great! I finished it in less than 2 weeks. haha next, I'm going to say hi to Fig jam.. the jam I wanted to buy in the first place.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Leaves are falling

























Oh no.. the leaves are falling from the trees! The trees are going bald. Help!
No Beijing 101 in Montreal. How?

Monday, October 25, 2010

Second CuP at Greene Ave

Hello! :)

Winter is coming! On the streets, everyone is wearing thicker jackets (and I can see that their favourite brand is North Face)... but I love my jacket too much.. I willcontinue to wear my same old jacket. :P

Today I went to the café Second Cup, the one at Greene Ave.. because I know the one at Ste Catherine has lots of students studying crazily.

























On my way back, I need to go through the underground tunnel to get to the Atwater metro station. In the underground tunnel, there was a busker playing his guitar and singing the song "What a friend we have in Jesus" in French.

Suddenly I thought I was part of an AM movie. O_O

U know, in many AM movies, there is a person walking alone in the underground tunnel thinking about something and there is always someone playing the saxophone or the guitar in the background.

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Yellow yellow yellow

Yellow yellow yellow... Every tree is turning yellow
But this does not mean you can be a dirty fellow.



















The squirrel also loves the yellow tree.
Picture was taken in Parc Angrignon.

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Do you have change?

In Singapore, if people ask you "Do you have change?" they really wanna ask you whether you have smaller change for their note. For example, a $2 note to exchange for 2 $1 coins.
But here, if people ask you "Do you have change?" They wanna ask if you have spare cash to give them.

Yesterday, I was going to the supermarket.. at around 8pm. I wanted to buy orange juice. So..I headed towards Provigo..



















On my way there, I saw some people (a few more than usual) asking around for money..
Then there was this AM guy who asked everyone near the traffic lights "Do you have change?"
Sensing someone behind, he turned around and asked "Change?"
After seeing me with my "chinese" face, he turned away and continued asking other passerby for change even before I replied "no."

Rain Rain Rain



Today I was in Macdonalds for lunch (Bacon Cheeseburger + sweet and sour sauce). I chose to sit at the table with a view facing the street.


It was raining heavily and the wind was super strong. Almost everyone was struggling with their umbrellas. I know that I will struggle with mine on my way home so I ate my cheeseburger super slowly...hoping that the rain will stop soon..

Oh anyway.. did u realise that the "Ex" in the Fedex van is red instead of the usual orange we see in Singapore?

Friday, October 8, 2010

People's Potato

For the past few days.. I have been having lunch at People's Potato.
It's great that they serve free lunch at People's Potato.
They serve different vegetarian food everyday which is good, so we won't get tired of eat the same food everyday. :)
And although I think some of the food tasted a little funny, I like visiting People's Potato.
Not only do I get free lunch, I get to interact with some of my friends too. :)

But cos I have been there for the past few days.. today I decided to cook my own potato..

At Provigo today

The other time I told you that I can't find any strawberry milk in Montreal right?
Guess what? I saw it at Provigo today! and there's the buttermilk flavour milk! Interesting right? haha.




















And beside the buttermilk flavoured milk is the Beatrice white milk. The Beatrice milk reminds me of 周崇庆 (Dennis Chew) because of the show Paris and Milan (女王本色). haha.
"My name is Beatrice, may I help tyou"

And today I am really happy.. because my favourite Québon chocolate milk is on sale! yay!


Baguettes.. I have to warn u.. they are really addictive. I can't stop eating it.

Saturday, October 2, 2010

In Toronto

If you wondered why you haven't heard from me for a long time.. it's because
1. My computer was in coma
2. My toes were in Torontooo!

Yes! I went to Torontoooooooo!
And visited many touristy places.
That's what tourists do - visit touristy places.

























Ok. And then there was once at night we were walking back to the hotel.
We stopped at the traffic lights and waited for it to turn green so we can cross.
And then suddenly, an old uncle came from the back and "pppppoooouuuuuiiiiii" his spit landed on the floor right in front of us.
We were all disgusted.
I thought I only have to siam a lot in China because many ppl spit onto the ground.
It seems that some people in Toronto do that too.

*update 07/10/10
People in Montreal do that too..
I went to supermarket today and saw 2 people spit on the ground

Geekier

I thought I am a true geek with geeky glasses.
But I met a geekier geek than me. She is the true blue cool geek.. and she doesn't need the geeky glasses.

Meet Vanessa.




I apologise for the the tiny picture of her. I took a picture of her from quite a distance away because I can't let her know that I'm taking picture of her.

Wow. She is the coolest geek I have ever met so far.
Not only does she know how to repair electronics, create applications and games, she also know hows about hacking and stuff. Wah!

My computer went into coma the other day.. and even though I am a geek, I do not know how to revive my computer. I had to ask for help and fortunately I met Vanessa. She helped me to revive my computer. While waiting for Windows to be reinstalled.. we talked about some really geeky stuff.. I can feel her passion for all this kind of stuff.. U can see that she really loves it by the way she talks about it. I wondered where did my passion for all the geeky stuff gone to.

Friday, October 1, 2010

Golden coca cola

Look, I am holding a golden Coca Cola!

























If you think anything that is golden is good, think again.

69 cents in Provigo (before tax).
This is Diet Coke, as you can see.
It has no sugar and no caffeine.
Taste? Horrible.
I didn't even finish the can of coke.
It tasted very metallic.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Weather is turning cold

Weather is turning cold.. autumn is coming...
This will be my first time experiencing autumn, and first time not celebrating mid-autumn festival..
Because the weather is cold, I have to wear my new jacket whenever I leave the house.
Let me show it to u...


Cool right?
I always feel cool when I wear this jacket (pun intended) ;)

Monday, September 20, 2010

Writings on the (toilet) wall

























Writings on the wall of one of the toilet cubicles in Concordia. lol.
If you wanna know more about what "2+2=5" means, read this

Ice mountains in Singapore

























My camera died so I went to the Future Shop to buy a camera.
The name of the shop sounds like it is the shop for the future, so I decided that it is the best place to buy my camera...
The salesman was really friendly and was quite knowledgeable about different types of cameras.
Ok. talk talk and talk..
I told him that I'm from Singapore and I am here on an exchange.
And as I purchased the camera.. the conversation continues...

"Singapore is a beautiful place."
"Yes it is."
"How is Singapore like?"
"It is very hot."
"Are you sure? I always think it is a very cold place, with
ice mountains."
I smiled and said "no, it is very hot."
"What is the highest temperature in Singapore?"
"About 35 degrees."
"Oh, I always thought Singapore is a very cold place. Where is Singapore? Oh never mind, I don't know where Singapore is."


And I smiled, got my camera, thanked him and said bye.
Ice mountains in Singapore?
I thought it was quite funny.. but when I got home..
I realised he might be right after all..

Strawberry Milk

Milk at PA Supermarche.
Many different types of white milk for you to choose from...
There are soya milk, white milk and chocolate milk..
But no strawberry milk anywhere.
Strawberry milk, where are u?
Nevermind, my favourite is still Québon chocolate milk

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Lessons after second week of school

Here is a picture of my french class in Loyola..
They still use the old fashioned kind of chalk and blackboard.
I thought all the AM slack and love to play a lot.. I was so so so wrong.

Yang zhou fried rice

Today I bought Yang Zhou fried rice from a restaurant in Chinatown - it costs $4 CAD.
The portion is really big - I ate half of it for lunch and kept the rest for dinner.
Although the fried rice doesn't taste as nice as the fried rice I had in Singapore, I was quite happy to eat it.
I continued thinking about the fried rice during my class after lunch.

Sweets in the Toilet?

They are selling sweets beside Tampons in the toilet? eeeee.. I wonder who will buy them. Maybe those who need something sweet in their mouth after having a difficult time in the toilet.

Monday, September 13, 2010

Freedom

U know in Singapore, people really like to stare.
Whether u dress weirdly or not, they just like to stare.

Here in Canada, no one really care what u wear...
whether u dress weirdly or not..
No one really stare at u.
It is great!

Here in Canada, I dare to wear funny outfits like this to go shopping...

cos no one really cares...

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Rollercoaster at La Ronde



















As u can see from the picture above, I went for roller coaster rides.
It was really a hair raising experience. I had great fun!




















My favourite is Ednor-L'attaque (above).
Not only was Ednor-L'attaque (dun ask me to pronounce it) a fun ride, I had a nice chat with the uncle sitting next to me during the ride.

I have never sat so many roller coasters in one day.
Although it was a fun experience, I will probably be my first and last time in La Ronde.
I don't think my heart can take more shocks.. I am not getting any younger.

Chips

No I am not talking about the chips in Casino.
I am talking about potato chips.



















I love bbq flavour potato chips, so I bought the 3 different flavour of bbq flavour potato chips:
bbq (black), old fashioned bbq (orange) and bbq rib (purple).

The bbq (black packaging) is the normal bbq flavour we often eat (sweet).
The old fashioned bbq tasted a little salty than the normal bbq.
The bbq rib tasted a little more sour than the normal bbq.

My favourite is still the black packaging bbq flavour.
Having eaten 3 big packets of Lays potato chips in one month, it is definitely more than enough for me.
No more chips for me, potato or plastic.

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Graffiti in Montreal


Adventure to our first lesson in Loyola Campus

Concordia has 2 campuses - SGW campus and Loyola campus.
It was 5.40pm. Class at 5.45pm. We were still at SGW campus.
The queue for the shuttle bus to Loyola Campus was never-ending.
So my 2 friends and I decide to take public transport (metro+bus) instead of the shuttle bus.
So we walked really quickly to the nearest Metro.



















It was like amazing race.. time is ticking fast.
We alighted at the Lucien L'Allie Metro station..
We walked up 3 escalators to the exit... but we couldn't find the bus stop.
We asked many passerby.. and they had no clue as well.
And in the end, we took the cab.. which costs us $24.



















And finally we reached..
But that was not the end.
I started looking frantically for my classroom because it was already 6.45pm.
I'm already one hour late.
I found the classroom and was shocked to find out that the classroom was empty.

























They ended class so early meh?
I figured out that something might be wrong and went to the library.
I tried to log into the portal but I forgot my password.
So I asked the librarian for help to reset my password..
After several minutes, I manage to log into the portal and checked the timetable.
I found out that they had changed the venue of the class! What!

So hurry hurry scurry I asked a random passerby where to get to that building..
that building where my class is..

























and after walking a while, I found that building..
and when I reached the classroom, everyone started packing their stuff.

























Lesson is over.
"See you next week" said the prof.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Best Milk Ever!


The best chocolate milk I have ever tasted.
Its so much better than the Marigold HL milk... and any other milk I have tasted in sg.
I am starting to like milk, my mum will be so proud of me.

Monday, September 6, 2010

My Pasta in Montreal



















ok, this is my pasta.
I know it doesn't look nice la.. but I still like it. :P
It is Pasta and hotdog in chinese seafood sauce. <- Fusion
I cooked it today for dinner.
This is the 2nd time I cooked it.
It was a flop today.
The pasta and the hot dog were not cooked.
Nevertheless, it tasted good.. because the hot dog was good.
It was one of the best hot dog I have ever eaten.

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Macdonalds



















I went to Macdonalds
and ordered French fries and Double Cheeseburger
"Do you have chilli sauce?" I asked.
"No, but we have Ssssaaaaaaaaalsaa.. do you want Salsa?"
I nodded.

They are cool.
In Montreal, Macdonalds don't have chilli sauce, they have salsa.

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Time to turn geeky

I am officially in the faculty of Engineering and Computer Science.
I just went for the orientation talk in the school.
It is time to turn geeky.

And put on my geeky glasses.


Recycle Bin



















Recycle Bin in Montreal.
I see in Montreal, the same situation I see in Guangzhou.
There are people going to the recycle bin to take out recyclable materials and sell them . but I have to say I see more people doing this in China.

I have yet to see people digging into the recycle bin for materials in Singapore..
probably because I have not been out observing people enough..
but I think it is because the items in many recycle bins in public areas don't look too different from the items in the rubbish bin.
They just go to the rubbish bin to look for their 'treasures.'
Who knows, there may be much more stuff in the rubbish bin.

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Asking for $$

$$ is a sensitive issue.

One morning last week, I was walking to my friend's house.
It was around 10 am in the morning.
As I was reaching the house, an old man.. probably in his 50s called out to me.


























This was exactly what he was wearing.
First he asked me whether I can speak cantonese.
I said yes.
And then he asked whether I had cash to give him to take bus to go home.


Raspberry


The first raspberry I have ever eaten.

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Pepsi


This is a picture of can of Pepsi I bought yesterday.
If u look on top of the can, it says "Quebec City" and "Refund of 5cents"
It is interesting to note that there is "Nutrition Facts" at the back of a can of Pepsi in Canada and not in Singapore. And they even include the Caffeine content too! Interesting!
By the way, there is this "Nutrition Facts" a the back of a Coca-Cola both in Canada and Singapore.

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Nice people


I bought this yogurt at the supermarket called IGA.
When I went to the cashier to pay for the yogurt, she was really nice.. she smiled really sweetly and that made my day. :)

Come to think of it, most of the people here are really friendly (although there are some exceptions).
They are really patient. The people take time to explain things and talk about stuff.. the cars will wait for the pedestrians to cross instead of honking impatiently..

And the people here are really gorgeous.
A fellow Singaporean told me that in her orientation, almost everyone looks like models. They are tall, slim and good looking.
Once I was queuing in the bank and I saw a girl with red hair standing at the door beside a poster. I was got a little shocked when the girl moved because I thought she was part of the poster.
I thought she was the model for the poster beside her.

Friday, August 27, 2010

Singapore Noodles
















Singapore noodles in a Chinese restaurant.
$4 CAD.
Having tasted how the Singapore noodle in Guangzhou is like, I should try how the Singapore noodles in Montreal taste like.
I have to say that the Singapore noodles in Guangzhou tastes much nicer... I was happier eating it in Guangzhou.. and I had my fantastic friends in Guangzhou sharing the noodles with me.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

The Squirrel



















I went to Mount Royal on Wednesday and saw a squirrel.
The squirrel is really cute.. it doesn't run away like the squirrels in Singapore when it sees human beings. In fact, it actually pose for the camera.

After coming down from Mount Royal, I saw 2 guys trying to take a picture of the squirrel.
The guy was taking his camera and talking to the squirrel.
"Come on...."
"You are moving too fast..."
"Aww.. so beautiful!"

The Room Service

























"Room service!"

For the first two days, the room attendant who cleaned my room was a young bespectacled girl!
Oh I was surprised to see such a young room attendant on the first day.. who knows.. she may be even younger than me..
When I was in Guangzhou, the room service was usually done by aunties.. the youngest room attendant looks about thirty plus years old...

Welcome to Montreal


And so I reached Montreal on 21 August 2010 12 noon or 12 am (Singapore time).
This is the first sign I saw that welcome me to Montreal.

I gave the lady my declaration card.. and the lady said "Merci"
Oooh.. I was delighted to hear someone saying "Thank you" to me in a language other than English, Chinese or Malay.

Saturday, August 7, 2010

Back to Sg


Airplane food - not fantastic - drank 3 cups of orange juice
Back to Sg - Terminal 1
People waiting to leave Sg, they are going back home too.

I thought no one would recognise me when I am back

Before I went to Guangzhou, people around me kept telling me how good the food in Guangzhou is.
I thought I would spend most of the time eating and grew so fat that no one would recognise me when I am back home














Apparently, this is not the case.