Surreal

So, it's 2 full days since i landed in San Francisco... although the dream has now became a reality, it's still surreal, i occasionally still think 'this is too good to be true!'

I think definitely I must turn back to praise for every blessings He has poured out. and of course, not forgetting my parents who sacrificially provided the means for me to be sitting here writing this post more than halfway around the world.

So, had orientation on the 12 Jan, i think the other exchange/transfer students, they are really cool, from various places in the world. they are nice, friendly and all and yeah, you can say everyone mingles around much better compared to NUS where u get clusters of vietnamese, chinese, etc.

So, 1 thing that we were told about americans is that... they kinda greet you like how we intend to start a conversation back home, say "yo, what's up?" well, they really just mean "Hi." and if you respond with a long story instead, they'll be gone. So yeah, the germans called that superficial. maybe they might be right, i'll find out soon.

anw, walked around town and bumped into lotsa different ppl...homeless, hippies, and i won't describe the rest since some colours are somehow sensitive...ok, maybe i'll say it orang hitam dan putih. yeah, bahasa melayu can be that valuable here.

yeah, so they'll just be doing watever they want, kicking, hopping, 1 of them was just smoking bong yeah... to us it's like crazy ppl... but usually other ppl wudn't even bother them. so yeah, i din bother them, just walk pass and ignore them.

but i guess thats how it works here, they have their own culture formed by a set of worldviews, it seems that you kinda want to be sucked into it by some coercion, but little u realize that u can simply reject and choose for your own and they would respect that decision, but yeah, of course then i'll lose contact with them i guess.

which then begets the question of how do we influence them as ambassadors of Christ? It's a tough one, but i guess i'll take some time to figure it out. perhaps allowing them to choose that culture freely is better than trying to get them follow a set of values.

yeah, well, i gotta take some time to focus in getting my research project. the list is just awesome, except for 1 entry where the student is required to do all d menial lab jobs like washing up all d glassware (that's just so not research but cheap labor la). anw, find the list here:

http://research.berkeley.edu/urap/projects/openlist.lasso

so, gotta short list 3 projects... deadline's in a week's time.