Trials and tribulations for the past 2 months

At long last, I managed to clear 2 AUs worth of lab work in 3 weeks. Before any of my dear readers say, "What's so great about that?", let me remind you that the lab session was supposed to be completed within 2.5 months. Not to mention that we need to submit 2 formal reports for this lab module (well, 1 of the report is a group effort, that makes me & Jiahao free riders). But to complete one report in 3 weeks was no easy feat either, and one of the lab session was 9 hours straight (switched off most of the time during briefing by the lab techs). I must have slept for at most 15 hours 3 days before the deadline for submission. Found myself overloaded on caffine for that entire week.

Hence, when everyone around me (including the formiable clique of gossiping aunties in my block) asked me whether I'm excited or ecstatic about the impending trip, all I could muster was a weak smile. I am both too tired and dispirited by my workload during this entire summer break to be ecstatic. As mentioned, it was supposed to be a summer BREAK, but it was plagued with work, work and more work (sounds like a grunt in WC 3). Let me do a brief recap of what happened during the entire 'break', immediately after my exams for the second semester:

1) EID project - 2 AUs (enthusiasm for trip: 10/10)
Initially thought it would be an incredibly boring process, but was proven totally wrong. Had plenty of fun with project group members. No wait, had fun ALL the time doing the project, even when drawing the drafts for the prototype and typing the darned report with Junyong at Macdonalds. Thought that group members are introverts and uninspired, but cliqued right away after a few meetings. Hats off to Kaijing and Lena, who are now officially skilled dota players *salutes*. Sounds ironic, but I really miss the EID sessions, even the boring lectures. In short, it was a memorable 5 week with plenty of badminton sessions in between.

2) Intersem 2 EE8085 - 3 AUs (enthusiasm for trip 6/10)
This time I was proven right. Incredibly boring EEE module right from the start. So boring that I was too numbed to process what the lecturer was saying every single lecture and doodled on my lecture notes all the time (until no more space to doodle), secretly begin to think Pauline was extremely annoyed by my incessant doodling. Knew right from the start that I will regret taking this module, and feelings were confirmed when I was studying for the exams. Once again thanked God that I'm in MAE instead of EEE. Prayed for a 'just pass can liao la' during eve of exams. Glad to clear it eventually (prayers answered).

3) Yr 3 lab MP3072 - 2 AUs (enthusiasm for trip 1/10)
Majiam like fate like that, this module has to be cleared before we leave for Canada, if not it will come back to haunt us in our final year. We had to beg the coordinating professors to let us complete the lab in 3 weeks. Fortunately enough, the profs relented, and we had to finish 2 dreaded reports in 3 weeks. I could swear that there were several times where me and Jiahao were totally demoralized during the lab sessions, due to conflicting timetables with the coordinators of certain experiments. Immensely burnt out. Felt very guilty that we were imposing on our project group members for P3.11 and the coordinators who lent us a hand to make this possible. Once again, could not express my gratitude enough for P3.17's coordinator U Xuan.

Now that everything is over, me and Jiahao did not heave a sigh of relief. I guess both of us are really worn out. Only when I was stuffing the remainder of my junks into the luggage, did I realise how close the date of departure was. That brought my enthusiasm level up somewhat, but it was still insufficient to raise my morale. I was suddenly reminded by what Allan told me on monday when we were discussing the itineraries for NY and Boston, "There is always darkness before dawn.", now that darkness has passed, let's see whether the dawn will bring forth fresh hopes over at Canada.

Last minute prayers

Like any mere mortal, I have always turned to religon for assurance and comfort when faced with seemingly impossible tasks or ambiguities in any episodes of my life. For as long as I could remember, the Kwan In (Goddess of Mercy) temple situated at Waterloo Street has been a place of worship where I frequent regularly whenever the need of divine assistance arise. You may wonder, how is it possible that a future engineer, a man of science and reason can believe in folklores and legends, and even find time to indulge in superstitions. I beg to differ, religon and the belief in the existence of a higher omnipotent being does not translate into superstition. For centuries and milleniums, religon and faith have formed the corner stone of any moral values, and has provided mankind with an avenue of hope against any uncertainties.

I need to confess at this point that I am not a devout follower of my faith. I don't light a joss stick in offer to the venearable Goddess everyday, neither do I become a vegetarian on the 1st and 15th of every month in preparation for the pristine condition required of any faithful believer in this religon. Nevertheless, I never fail to visit the temple at Waterloo Street during the eve of every single exam or when I am about to embark on a new stage of my life (eg: national service). Afterall, the Goddess of Mercy in all her magnanimity and benevolence sheds her grace on all faithful believers, no matter how wretched they are.

Being an incorrigible procrastinator, I will head down to the temple next week (just days before my flight) and jostle with the throngs of devoted followers for a choice spot to make my prayers heard. Despite this display of a less than desirable level of devotion, I have once again decided to muster enough audacity to beg the Goddess of Mercy for her blessing in granting us a safe and smooth journey on the 1st of September 2006. The chinese proverb of hugging the Buddha's leg at the last minute couldn't be more accurate in its depiction of my current situation. However, I do believe the Goddess is prepared to overlook such trifle misconducts and grant me a shred of her infinite mercy that she is ever so ready to dispense.

We do fall short at times, but let us not forget that to err is human. As long as effort is willing to be made, I believe it is never too late. That being said, I am suddenly reminded of the Master card commercial fronted by Ricard Gere where he bought the entire village's worth of doves to set free for a little girl's brother before he embarks on a journey. Judging from the story told by that Indian tour guide, the boy will probably strike lottery before he even leave the village (I bet there was at least a hundred doves in that commercial), in which I would ask him to consider the possibility of flying first class to where ever he is going instead of riding his primitive camel. Much as I would like to, the likelihood of freeing doves at Changi airport is highly unlikely. The authorities will probably detain me on charges of trying to launch a biochemical attack with the avian flu virus and with that, ends all hopes of me making it to Canada. Hence, the blessings from the Goddess of Mercy alone suffice, and for that, I am grateful.

Born Identity

A couple of friends suggested to me that I should consider getting myself an english name before my trip to Canada. By english name, they were referring to monikers such as Tom, Dick, Harry, Jerry etc. And why the heck would I wanna get myself an english name, I asked. They reasoned that the caucasians in America would have a hard time grappling with chinese names. Hence, to spare these poor 'ang mohs' from some tongue twisting prounciation, it would be best to carry with me (even if temporary) an enlish name. Jiahao's face immediately lit up upon the idea. In his over zealous mood, he quipped "How about we slang and americanise the way we speak?". To which I curtly replied, "How about NO?!". Fellow readers who have heard how Jiahao slang, will have to admit that it is a lesser pain to listen to songs belted out by Singapore Idol rejects.

Back to the question, why should I get myself an english name? Why should I cut the caucasians some slack? Afteall, I can prounounce names like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Daniela Hantuchova and Ana Ivanovic without a glitch, I don't see how a name, Weizhong with only TWO syllables could be a stumbling block for anyone. Schwarzenegger, quite a mouthful isn't it? Just how many times were Jackie Chan and Jet Li referred to as Chen Long or Li Lianjie respectively by medias of the westen world? Scarcely. Even Zhang Ziyi became Ziyi Zhang. Alas, there seem to be a gross misrepresentation of the chinese populace here.

I secretly wonder what would happen if admiral Zheng Ho sailed his large armada to the shores of America and Genghis Khan did not rein his golden horde to a halt at the gates of Europe. Perhaps half the world will be speaking chinese by now and I will not have to toy with the idea of getting myself an english name to convenient anyone.

Before I end this entry, do check this video clip out. Hilarious and echoes my thoughts.

Show me the money!

Uttered by Tom Cruise in the movie 'Jerry Maguire', I truly wish someone could 'show me the money' now. The heavy expenses for the exchange is slowly dwindling my saving account. Just how heavy is my expenditure? Take a peek below, the sum has been converted to Singapore dollars for convenience.

Residence at UWO - S$5596.68
International Student Card - S$15
Postage - S$60 (cost is shared between the 3 of us)
Transcript - S$6.20
Air tickets - S$1950
International Driving Permit - $18 (cost is shared between the 3 of us)
US dollars - S$1574
Canadian dollars - S$2824

total: S$11991.88

For someone who has known thrift all his life, the sum above is astronomical. My mother especially, starts to voice her concerns. Yes, her incessant nagging has begun. But who could blame her? Afterall, she is only worrying about her son's future. Every mother does that, no surprise at all, especially in a chinese family. You have to save up for rainy days. You should set aside a certain sum for your marriage. You should start saving up for my grandchildren's education. You should save up for your own retirement. I feel amused (not to mention ridiculous) at the notion of planning for my finances so far ahead, and I was wondering whether I should include saving up for my funeral expenses as well.

I'm only 23, and has not even graduated from my studies, how much can I save? Perhaps my mum's emphasis is to be frugal, afterall, she did went through poverty during her childhood. Hence, setting a sum of money aside for contingencies is always a wise option. She was motrified by the amount of money I have to spend on the trip. Despite my best efforts to explain to her that his trip cannot be justified in terms of monetary expenditures, but by the rare learning opportunity I can get to experience, her reservations remained. She reasoned that there will be plenty of opportunities for me to travel when I start earning my first paycheck. Exasperation rendered me speechless. Obviously all my attempts to convince my mum what carpe diem means has failed.

There is no doubt that I could feel the pinch of spending this huge sum of money in such a short time. But surely not everything on earth can be measured by dollars and cents? There are intangibles in life that defy any monetary assessment on their value. I agree with Jiahao that sparing our expenses on an otherwise enjoyable trip will be unwise for a simple reason: how often do you get to travel halfway across the globe and immerse yourself in a foreign culture for 4 whole months? There is always a chance that my age of retirement could be extended after this trip, but at least I know that I have accumulated enough stories to tell and pictures of my travel exploits for posterity. Carpe diem I say.

A sum of all fears

Life is not always smooth sailing. In the exact words of wisdom of my old friend Kelvin Chew, "Shit happens...". Yes I know that, thank you. The preparation work done by the three of us for the exchange wasn't going smoothly. Wasn't going smoothly is an understatement. We faced a shitload of problems (pardon my crudeness here, I'm just trying to vent some frustrations).

To begin with, several of our proposed modules to be taken at UWO was rejected by the host university. Reason? We did not meet the prerequsites of the modules offered in the host university. That is not the case. What happened was, the original transcipt we sent over in the BEGINNING of this year did not reflect the fulfillment of these prerequsite modules that we have already taken in NTU. To remedy this crisis, we have to pay $2.10 (AGAIN) for an updated transcript to bring over to our host university.

More bad news. Me and Jiahao did not manage to match any lab modules at the host university. Reprecussions? We clear 1 semester's lab sessions in about 3 weeks. Our reaction? Steam. This means that we have to submit 2 lab reports in the span of three weeks, at the same time squeezing in experiments in between lab sessions. We had a first hand experience of undergoing 9 hours of lab session in 1 day during our second week. I almost went nuts. Jiahao? He went nuts. But we survived, and the adage, "what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger." came to my mind. I told Jiahao we must really play to our hearts content in UWO and he agreed. I got a feeling it's gonna be more than to our hearts content during happy hours in Canda. More like havoc like there's no tomorrow.

Then came something I did not expect. Terrorists attempted to perform a mass murder using airplanes as a 'weapon' departing from UK. Fortunately, those bastards were nabbed in time. I could not contain my joy knowing that the UK police and the MI5 had foiled a September 11 scale atrocity. But the damage was already done. Inconvenience caused to the thousands of travellers around the world by the thorough security checks at airports was the immediate aftermath. Airports at UK took it a notch higher in its security screening. Besides banning all liquid substance on board, they limited carry on luggage to only absolutely essential items such as passport. I reeled in shock when I learnt of this. For a student going on exchange every gram of luggage weight allowance counts. If carry on luggage was prohibited, that means 7 whole kg lost! A string of vulgarities was let loose when I realised that this would mean that my laptop would be checked in together with my luggage. Even a fool knows what kind of damage a laptop will undergo if it is checked in with the luggage. For the first time in my life, I seriously considered joining the home team and dedicate my life to fighting these bastards who inconvenient half the world, not to mention taking innocent lives wantonly with their twisted deeds. In a fortunate twist of event, travellers flying to the airports in US only need to avoid bringing any liquid substances in their carry on luggages. God bless America! Recovery from shock soon followed.

3 rude awakening jolted me from the sweet dreams I had on this trip to Canada, along with it, unfound fears began to plague me. What if I'm short of money over there? What if I am the victim of an insidious terrorist plot? What if I miss my flight? These 'what ifs' had instantly transformed my sweet dreams into a nightmare. Insomnia soon followed. I slept for less than 5 hours. I began to look listless. I began to let this unfound fear consume me. It was not until during breakfast with my mum earlier this morning that finally set my mind at ease. I suppose the saying 'a mother knows best' couldn't be more accurate. She noticed my despondancy and comforted me during breakfast. Concerns for loved ones work wonders. The fear was at once overcame and the optimism I had for this trip was rekindled. Yes Kelvin, shit does happen. But what is more important than realising that life is not smooth sailing, is that we must eventually find the courage and fortitude to forge on ahead of these obstacles and difficulties we encounter. Before I end this entry, thanks mum.

When 3 is not a crowd

There are 5 students from NTU going for this exchange trip to the University of Western Ontario, of these, 3 are from the school of Electrical & Electronics Engineering (EEE) and 2 are from the school of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering (MAE). The unknown candidates from the EEE aside, representing the MAE in the exchange to Canada is yours truly ME and my close friend of 4 years, a Mr Li Jiahao living in the western region of Singapore. He is the very same friend who told me about this INSTEP business and more or less influenced my decision to sign up for it.

I will now briefly introduce Mr Li Jiahao in this entry, readers who find this excruciatingly boring and irrelevant may choose to skip this section. I have known Jiahao since NS (national service) in Paya Lebar Airbase's (PLAB) Field Defense Squadron (FDS), despite the grandeur of this important sounding name: Field Defense Squadron, we're really just regimental police (RP) patrolling the airbase. To be a tad more blunt, we fall between the categories of underpaid security guards to over-worked slaves. Predictably, in times of woes, close friendships were forged, the intensive trainings and heavy workload at PLAB had allowed me to become close friends with Jiahao. After all, he looked pretty docile and benign in appearance, not to mention that he was always ready to lend a helping hand to fellow soldiers in need.

Alas, I thought that I have known Jiahao well enough in the 2 years of NS, but it was in NTU that the REAL Jiahao is unleashed. Like a starving famine victim presented before a spread of delicacies, Jiahao spared no effort in letting me know that without the rigid discipline of the army, what kind of madness he is capable of. Crazy antics such as the capability of sleeping for a full 24 hours and the tendency of singing hits by Britney Spears or Christina Aguilera during lectures really showed me a different side of Jiahao. Even to this day, Jiahao continues to surprise me periodically with his weird behavior. But there are still some redeeming qualities in Jiahao, for example, he remains to be the helpful companion that one can always rely on. Yes, he sings out of tune during lecture, but he more than make up for it by drawing laughter in an otherwise boring lecture. Yes, he can sleep a full 24 hours, but that is really none of my business isn’t it? Except that I am amazed by this feat. More importantly, I know that he is reliable and responsible when he single handedly did the preparation for the paperwork in the application of this exchange. Needless to say, he makes a good traveling companion (just that I have to invest in a pair really good earplug to spare my ears from his singing).

A couple of weeks after the successful application, we managed to contact one of the EEE guys called Allan who is going for this exchange as well. Jiahao got to know him through a friend, and we were formally introduced to each other when we submitted some verification forms to the International Relations Office (IRO) in the campus. As benign and docile looking as Jiahao, I secretly hoped that Allan does not pack the same crazy antics as Jiahao. After all, there is only so much nonsense I can take from one person. 2 will drive me crazy. The three of us decided to plan our trip to Canada together and through their eyes, I could see that there was an unspoken agreement that we will look after each other in this trip to a distant land. Hence, a fellowship of 3 has been formed and for 4 whole months, we’ll be sharing thick and thin together.

(In case you were wondering what about the other 2 students from EEE, they are both Malaysian chinese who could not be contacted during the school's vacation. Hence, we are going to UWO in 2 seperate groups.)

This thing called procrastination

Has your study table been through this situation: piles of books/magazines and wads of rough paper strewn around, mugs with the stain of Milo 'freshly' brewed 3 days ago, gradually thickening layer of dust. Well, this happened to me all the time, and each nagging reminder to tidy my room and that very study table yielded an almost natural response: WAIT LA. Welcome to the world of an incorrigible procrastinator. Yes, there were times when i sprang to my feet to set things right, battling stains on the very same Milo stained mugs and lugging the avalanche of books back to the shelves where they belong, my room was restored to a modest level of decency after these efforts. But the battle with procrastination was not always won.

I was pretty sure this character flaw will come to haunt me some day, but I never realised that the hour of reckoning would strike during the preparations for this exchange to Canada. Despite knowing the urgency in booking the plane tickets and hotel, I kept telling myself, "It's not as if everyone in Singapore is flying over to Canada in September. Sure got vacancies one la."

Bad News number 1: yah, not everyone flies over to Canada during September, but there is only a limited number of discounted tickets available for students going overseas for exchange. An email sent by a travel agency regarding the availability of these tickets prompted me to make the trip down to the tour agency 2 days later (procrastination here, I should have went on the day i received the email). Can you imagine I almost shitted in my pants when the counter staff informed me that the tickets were all taken, and the best alternative was to pay an additional (rip off) $1000 for SIA's ticket and it isn't business class, 2.5K for a stinking economy class. But by some fortunate turn of event, some bugger cancelled his reservation or sort (I wasn't really aware of the actual story), and I managed to get the tickets at the discounted rate.

As if the first sign of warning wasn't powerful enough, this personal flaw is still not rectified. Hence, bad news number 2: All hotels near the campus in Canada were fully booked, this means that I can get to sleep on the streets of London Ontario at btwn 10~15 degree celsius. GREAT! SUPER! It's not all that bad what, imagine at that temperature, I get to have air condition throughout the night. Who am I kidding? I'm almost stick thin with probably 0 ounce of fats on my body, I'm likely to freeze to death on the streets before someone actually rob or murder me. As usual, a tremendous stroke of luck found its way to me when I was told that I can actually get to move into the hall of residence a day or two earlier at a 'reasonable' price (it's about 40 Canadian dollars).

Perhaps in retrospect, I should heed these warning signs and realise that procrastination during the preparation for this exchange to Canada will be disastrous. However, looking at the piles of clothes strewn around my luggage and not a single document sorted out to bring, I realised I'm far from learning from my lesson. For instance, I should be reading through my lab manual in preparation for tomorrow's lab session now, instead, I'm blogging away happily. Ironic? No, I suppose the army's lingo 'test water' is an apt explanation for my behaviour. Until my luck runs out, I remain your humble procrastinator and will most definitely retort a firm, "Wait la." when a mundane yet troublesome task is set for me.

How it all began

Perhaps it was due to the 2 years (and counting) of monotonous mugging in NTU, or perhaps it was due to the thirst for adventure and immersing myself in a foreign culture, or perhaps I can finally relish at the possibility to travel to another country for a long period of time (we're talking about at least four months here), perhaps, perhaps, perhaps...

Hence, when a friend told me about this exchange programme offered by NTU to a foreign university of our choice was available for application at the beginning of this year, I signed up for it without second thoughts. A number of host countries came to my mind immediately, along with it, some wild speculations: how about the prospect of running into Hollywood celebrities in LA or NY? Or how about sneaking a peek into the pyramids in Giza? Or how about joining the throngs of beer lovers during the Oktoberfest in Munich? The list went on until we went for the Q & A session on this exchange programme. There was only a limited number of universities around the world that has an exchange programme with NTU, so there goes GIZA, NY, LA, Paris, Munich, Milan, etc. In short, the countries available for selection either puts you in North America, certain parts of Europe or the rest of Asia, or you could probably wind up in Australia.

But applying for this exchange programme itself was a chore. Pages of application forms needs to be filled (that includes every bit of details the panel of judges who deem whether you are worthy for this exchange needs to know about me), a mini 'research' has to be done on the host university and the country you have selected for the exchange, matching subjects of the host university with the year 3 subjects in NTU (this task proved to be the biggest headache of all and I'll elaborate in detail in future posts). Somewhere in between filling the application forms and matching subjects, I was wondering whether this trip is really worth all the trouble. After much hassle and vomiting huge gallons of blood, the countries of choice for this exchange was narrowed down to: 1) Canada 2) Sweden 3) UK. With my breath held in anticipation, the application form was finally submitted.

It took nearly 4 months before the outcome of the application was known, and when it was successful, the feeling that hit me can only be described as striking lottery. Exhilaration took over. The email that bore the good news read: Congratulations! You have been shortlisted to participate in the International Student Exchange Programme (INSTEP) at University of Western Ontario for Semester 1, AY 2006-07. Already, breath-taking sceneries from movies like 'The Last of the Mohicans' and 'Brokeback Mountain' conjured a host of possible adventures and sightseeing I will experience in Ontario London. The culture shock that awaits and the vast tracts of beautiful sceneries in Canada, has instilled both euphoria and insomnia in me. Until I can finally set my foot on Canada, the feeling that this turn of event remains 'too good to be true' will continue to be the source of my many sleepless nights in weeks to come.