Wen and Jen Go Abroad!

Wen: Minsoo's Birthday Celebration

2010-06-04T22:45:00.000-07:00

My friend Minsoo turned the ripe old age of 20 a few weeks ago. We went out to lunch then hit up a dessert shop... yes.... they only sell desserts.

All the things in the background are cupcakes. They specialize in fancy gourmet cupcakes!

We each got a cupcake and Minsoo got two. Mine was called Black Forest or something. It's actually the one on the far left side. It was sooooo good. There was cream filling lined with rasberry jelly. Too bad they were $3.50 each, or I would totally eat these things like bread.

We ended up at the Town Hall. We wanted to climb the clock town, but unfortunately I think the building was undergoing renovations and the whole building, including the tower was closed!

Instead, I climbed the stone lion in front of the tower!

Aftreward, we went and had bubble tea. I got taro flavored tea, which is why it is purple... anyway, it was decently good! The tapioca pearls were awesome.

Wen: Iranian rice and Japanese curry fest!

2010-06-04T22:14:00.000-07:00

This was a while back, but I'm a little behind on blogs!
My friend Mehryar invited a few people over to his house for some international food! There were students representing Germany, France, Korea, China, USA (I guess that's me? Haha!) and of course Iran and Japan.
They made Persian rice, BBQ chicken, Japanese rice and Japanese curry. It was incredibly delicious. There was even tadik!!

For dessert, the French guys made crepes! We added Nutella and Vanilla ice cream. It was SO DELICIOUS.

Wen: Doomben Racefest

2010-06-04T02:48:00.000-07:00

I got free tickets to see horse racing a few weeks ago. I've never had the urge to see a horse race because:
1. I do not enjoy gambling
2. You can't eat the horses (only joking!!!)
Anyway, so I went there with Ling, but Ling wasn't able to get in because she didn't have her passport. Which brings me to my next point of how horse races are just an excuse for women to dress over-the-top and for everyone to get drunk.

The actual racing part was quick. Apparently there were simultaneous races going on around Queensland. The races were staggered so you could watch and bet on races in other cities like the Gold Coast and Sydney etc.

Apparently afterward there was a mini concert by a singer named Ricki Lee. I had never heard of her, but apparently she's semi-relatively famous in Australia. Also, they kept mentioning the fact that she has a song in the new Sex and the City 2 Movie.

Anyway, so her song was good I guess. Also, it was cool to see a semi famous person up close.
I left soon after because the other songs all sounded like padding for the CD.
I went shopping at Chinatown afterward and got awesome food!

Wen: Chinatown and the Brisbane Lions

2010-05-08T20:24:00.000-07:00

Ling and I went to the Brisbane Chinatown in Fortitude Valley on Saturday and I got to pose with the awesome stone Lion.

Afterward, we met up with Feli and Minsoo to go to a Brisbane Lions vs. Fremantle an Australian Football League (AFL) game. The game was okay, but I think we had more fun taking pictures than watching. Also, the stadium had different colored seats to give the illusion that it was filled when in reality it was only about 40% filled at the most.

Headline from an article online the next day:
"Brave Brisbane Lions fall short against Fremantle at the Gabba"
and ...
"UNDERMANNED, under-sized and under the pump from injuries and umpires, a brave Brisbane suffered its first-ever loss to Fremantle at the Gabba on Saturday night."

Apparently Brisbane lost 113 to 100. Oh well... we only found out after because I had to leave after the first quarter due to bus issues.

Wen: More food!

2010-05-07T17:24:00.000-07:00

I made this a while back for dinner. Some chicken and baby bok choy (bai cai... I believe). I hadn't had bai cai in a while, so it was really good!

This is what I had for breakfast this morning... French bread with avacado slices and smoked salmon on top. It was really good! The avacado was incredibly savory, given all the fat it contained!

Wen: ANZAC Day Aboriginal Cultural Experience and BBQ

2010-04-25T00:59:00.000-07:00

Today was an absolutely amazing experience! Ling and I went to the Quest sponsored ANZAC Day celebration at Kangaroo Point.

Here's the Wikipedia explanation of ANZAC Day:
"Anzac Day is a national day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand, and is commemorated by both countries on 25 April every year to honour members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) who fought at Gallipoli in Turkey during World War I. It now more broadly commemorates all those who died and served in military operations for their countries. Anzac Day is also observed in the Cook Islands, Niue, Samoa and Tonga."

We passed a maritime museum and I took a picture with a turbine or something.

When the Aboriginal dances asked for volunteers to dance with them, I naturally said I would do it. It was pretty easy, but I managed to do it wrong considering I'm super uncoordinated and it was painful jumping around with bare feet.

At the BBQ, they had kangaroo and crocodile meat! The kabob I'm holding has two pieces of kangaroo meat and one piece of crocodile meat. The kangaroo meat tasted like a mixture of lamb and liver. The texture was very much like liver. Yum... jk.
The crocodile meat was like fish but much chewier. It wasn't like fish that would just break apart in your mouth.
Apparently the crocodile meat was $40 AUD for half a kilo!

The red stuff on the plate next to me is actually beets, or they call it beet root. Australian add it to lots of stuff, like sandwiches and burgers. It's actually pretty good as an addition.

I'm also wearing contacts to try out. They're okay, but not THAT great... but it's nice not smudging my glasses all the time.

We climbed this awesome tree at the BBQ park and I was afraid I was going to fall off. Nevertheless, it was an awesome tree. I couldn't remember the last time I climbed a tree.

Wen: Smoked Salmon and Tomato on Baked Pita

2010-04-12T03:55:00.000-07:00

As I told Dahvid Davda:

Lebanese bread cut into slices and dabbed with olive oil.
Baked until crisp.
Lox pieces placed over them and sprinkled with ground black pepper.
Thin slice of tomato placed over lox.
Delicious snack.

Wen: Wen's Falafel Creation

2010-04-12T03:25:00.000-07:00

I realized that I had a lot of hummus in my fridge and I had to use it before it went bad, so thus began my quest to figure out how to make delicious falafel!

I looked it up online, but it seems that most people make falafel directly from mashed chickpeas, so I had to be creative.

My biggest problem was that the resulting mixture wouldn't keep its shape and thus fall apart or melt... either one.

To make it as dry as possible, I shredded the zucchini and used papertowels to get all the moisture out... then I added the following:
* Shredded Cheddar Cheese
* Green bell pepper
* Ground black pepper
* A tiny bit of hot pepper
* Groud ginger
* Garlic
* Soy sauce
* Diced chicken
* ... and of course, hummus!

On the first try it melted completely and I racked my brain for a solution. I decided to add two slices of bread to suck up the moisture and hold it together.

It worked and I got beautiful Falafel patties with a little bit of olive oil and a nonstick pan!

They were absolutely incredibly tasty!!! DELICIOUS!!!

Wen: I wen to Noosa and SURFED!

2010-04-08T17:39:00.000-07:00

Noosa Surfing on Easter Sunday!!!

Wow, that was awesome. We had a pretty good time hanging out in the 2 hour long bus ride. The highlight of the ride was probably when we saw these guys drive by with the passenger sticking his legs out and chillin'.

We then visited Edmundi Markets. Since it was Easter Sunday, there weren't that many markets open. :(

After the Markets, we went to Noosa for SURFING! Before this trip, I had no idea what surfing was like. I mean, I might have occasionally seen surfing scenes in movies, but those are huge waves. I wasn't sure how much they expected us to do in 2 hours. Anyway. The whole experience was awesome and I managed to stay up for like 2-3 seconds on some waves. Of course I didn't get any pictures of me actually standing... only waiting and falling!

Also, I understand that the goggles are really uncool, but they're prescription! I'm totally blind without my glasses!

Wen: Snakeskin!

2010-04-04T17:43:00.000-07:00

Judy showed me a snakeskin that the neighbors found in their backyard yesterday. This snakeskin is seriously long! It's taller than me, and the top is actually rolled... it's got to be at least 6-7 feet long.

Anyway, the neighbors called the snake removal people and they took the actual snake away. Pretty cool!

Wen: Amir's Drop EggZ Omelette

2010-04-04T17:26:00.000-07:00

After an amazing surfing trip to Noosa, I was quite hungry. Amir inspired me to make his famous Drop Eggz Omelette for breakfast, and I decided to document the process! Any yeah, it was DELICIOUS.

[If you're reading the Facebook post, you have to actually go to the Blogspot site to see the slideshow]

Wen: Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary

2010-04-02T14:00:00.000-07:00

     Yesterday I went to the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary with a group of students from Mates @ UQ, a campus club. It was quite awesome, and though I left really early in the morning, the rest of the day was fantastic.
     I left Indooroopilly Railway Station to Central Railway Station, which is actually in Brisbane City. I met up with Marjorie, the coordinator for Mates @ UQ and the 5 other students! All very cool people!
We took the train from Central to Robina, the closest train station to Currumbin Sanctuary. From the train station, we took the bus to Currumbin and had about 2 hours to explore.
     We made it just in time for the lorikeet feeding, and wow, was that amazing! The zoo lady gave me the pan of honey and milk mixture that the lorikeets drink and a bunch flew onto the pan and my arm. Then, more came and started landing on my other arm, shoulders and head. At first it was cool, then it started to hurt and soon I was like, get them off!!
     We walked around and saw the koalas! They were SO cute! Marjorie actually got a picture with one, and we got to go up and pet it--quite soft and cute!
     After the koalas, we walked around and went to the baby crocodile photo taking session. It was sort of sad to see the baby croc wiggling around while tens of people handled him/her while his/her mouth was tied closed! Anyway, to got a pic, though it was sort of sad. Props to Gary who decided not to because the little guy was tied up, and he thought it was wrong.
     After that, we walked around and found random animals, and we ended up at a show where they taught us about typical Australian animals, including a nonpoisonous and a poisonous snake. They had a possum at the end that we got to go up and take a picture with and pet. It was cool looking. They had professional photographers and printed your picture out in hope that you'd buy a picture for like $18. I actually found the picture on the rack later on and took a picture of it. Haha!
   One of the coolest parts of the trip to Currumbin was feeding the kangaroos! They were sooooooooo cute! There was a kangaroo with a joey in the pouch (it didn't actually come out, unfortunately) and it was wiggling in its sleep. So cute!
   After Currumbin we went to the Hard Rock Cafe for lunch and after a long day of walking around, lunch was delicious! I had Solo, which, after researching on Wikipedia, I found was introduced to the U.S. and it didn't go so well. It was okay looking and it tasted okay too... sort of like Sprite with some dull yellow coloring, more like pee colored.
    We all headed to Surfers Paradise after eating and walked into the water... it was AWESOME! The day was bright and sunny, but not unbearable. I got to walk around and some of the other students actually went in with their swim suits and jumped into waves.
     After the beach, we walked around the shops and I got a didgerydoo for Diane and a tea towel with a picture map of the Brisbane Coast.
     We took a taxi to Nerang Station and headed home after a long day of fun! Absolutely amazing... if only I didn't have two essays and a thesis due!

Wen: I have a Deutscher sticker

2010-03-31T04:26:00.000-07:00

This one is for Mr. Zaidi. I have a Deutscher sticker on my closet (probably from Dane because he likes soccer). It says Fussball-Bund... I don't know what the "Bund" means.

Wen: Sunset in the Land Down Under

2010-03-31T04:18:00.000-07:00

Australia is really a beautiful country.

I took these pictures when I was walking home from the bus stop. It was a warm but breezy night with misquitoes in the air. One of the little buggers bit me and now I have a misquito bite on my heel... yeah.

Anyway, enjoy the palm trees... we definitely don't have those in Connecticut!

Wen: Whhhat... Butter Chicken?

2010-03-31T03:49:00.000-07:00

Yum... Butter Chicken from a jar! Yeah, sounds delicious to me too.

I got some Butter Chicken sauce from Aldi and decided to mix in some zucchini, tomatoes, mushrooms and of course chicken. Some black pepper and some red pepper for taste. It actually came out pretty decently! :)

I'm sure it tastes nothing like Indian food, but wow, it was so easy! Plus... the rest is gonna be lunch for tomorrow!

Wen: I G-Chat with my dad

2010-03-28T17:37:00.000-07:00

I was G-Chatting it up with my dad today, talking about getting a car for dental school.

[Warning:The below conversation may contain foul language. For mature audiences only. Viewer discretion is advised.]

爸爸: you still need a cae

car

me: yeah... i thought i was gonna get mom's car

or the van

10:16 AM 爸爸: dental student drive a van like a soccer mommy

me: well whatever

i just need a car

10:17 AM 爸爸: I already spread the words I am interesed in buying a used car.

me: ohh

爸爸: If I can not find one, you may just drive mommy current car.

10:18 AM mommy is pudshing me to buy a new car for you.

me: wtf, i don't need a new car

10:19 AM her car is fine

i like it

爸爸: what wtf means?

me: what the fuck

爸爸: that is bad phrase.

10:20 AM me: well people use it alot

爸爸: I thought you are educated college student

me: yeah soooo?

it's instant messaging language

爸爸: you nevdr use word like that

me: it's like lol

brb

ttyl

it's im language!

10:21 AM 爸爸: brb? ttyl?

me: be right back

talk to you later

爸爸: no

I can feel I am the old generation

me: yep

Wen: Homemade Pizza

2010-03-27T00:47:00.000-07:00

Tonight I made the most delicious pizza ever. [JK Amir, our pizzas were really delicious too.]

After chatting with Vikram online, and seeing his inspirational food creations, I decided to make my own pizza for dinner.

I use one of my many Lebanese breads (usually used for lunch wraps) and rubbed a little bit of olive oil on the surface. I grated some cheddar cheese and sprinkled a little on the bread. I sliced up half a tomato and one mushroom for veggies and ripped up a chicken drumstick for some delicious, delicious protein. After laying it all down, some minced garlic was lightly spread around and the rest of the cheese sprinkled ontop.

I put it into the oven on the fan bake option and left it in for about ten minutes until the edges looked like they were going to burn. When it came out, the aroma was quite pleasing, and the taste was delectable! It really didn't even need sauce. The edges and the bread were cripsy and fantastic.

This was incredibly healthy, easy and DELICIOUS! Who knew this was achieveable?! Anyway... the oven here has a "Bake" and "Fan Bake" option. I looked up the difference and I guess "Fan Bake" bakes more evenly by running hot air over the food. Very interesting! Anyway, pretty good for making pizza on my own for the first time, mmm? :)

Wen: Hilarious Chinese-American Comedian

2010-03-26T01:53:00.000-07:00

This video is hilarious. Joe Wong is a Chinese-American comedian who recently was an entertainer at the 66th Radio and Television Correspondents' Dinner. I know this is purely for the abroad stuff, but since Jen hasn't been blogging, I figured we'd pad the blog a little. <3

Wen: The Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art

2010-03-25T03:27:00.000-07:00

I finally went to something "touristy" today--the Queensland Art Gallery and the Gallery of Modern Art. This was for my Asian Visual Cultures class at UQ.

[[NOTE to Facebook viewers: There is a slide show attached, you might have to go to the actual blog]]

Very, very interesting stuff. Ling joined me and we had a blast! I spent the morning looking around for some souvenirs to bring back. My friend Sean really wanted a boomerang, so I tried to find some reasonably priced ones that were actually MADE IN AUSTRALIA! I did find a shop on Queen Street and the largest ones were only $6.50 each! Baller... I'm gonna bring it back to the U.S., become proficient in boomerang hunting and hunt for small wildlife. Or not. I also found kangaroo jerky! At first I thought that I wouldn't be allowed to bring that stuff back, BUT it seems that it's cool as long as it's sealed. Fantastic news, I'm gonna bring it back for everyone to try. :) Btw, in the store, I also saw kangaroo feet key-chains and I thought that was really weird, but I guess people in the U.S. have rabbit feet for keychains... so WHY NOT!? They also had a kangaroo hide for sale.. it was a small one and was $99. But omg, it was so soft!

Ling and I booked it to the art gallery just in time for my class's tour conducted by Professor Morris Low. Really quite an educated guy. There was some very cool stuff... like the porcelain socks, LOL. I really liked the sticker thing, and the airplanes!!! Making the airplanes was SO FUN! I got to play with trash and junk and make it into a dragonfly airplane. Brings me back to the childhood days <3 Quite an incredible day... I'm planning on visiting the Queensland Museum too!

Wen: Grilled and South Bank

2010-03-15T19:39:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday I went to a restaurant called Grilled with Dane, and it is apparently one of the restaurants that people really should visit because the food is just so good!

Well, Dane had a 2 for 1 coupon and we each ordered "The Queenslander" with 100% lean beef, beets (called beetroot, here) and even an egg. It was huge! Omg, one of these burgers can really feed two people, I can't even imagine how many calories one of these things is! We also got fries with it and Schwepps sodas that were Blood Orange flavored!
The soda was delicious, and it was definitely the first time I had blood orange flavored soda. Although, I think it just tasted like regular orange with some red food coloring.
Anyway, just the burger was $12! So, in an effort to give my wallet and my waistline a rest!

We also walked around South Bank along the Brisbane River! The picture of the boat on the river is actually huge and has a dance floor on it! Dane's Semi-Formal was actually held on there.

I wish we had prom on there, that would have been so cool!

It was definitely awesome! Next time, I want to go when the markets are open... they apparently have a street filled with small stores that sell various things under tarp tents. Sounds fun!

Wen: Alice in Wonderland

2010-03-15T19:15:00.000-07:00

A few nights ago, my friend Dane and I went to go see Alice in Wonderland in 3D. We went to the Indooroopilly Shopping Center Cinemas.

So, apparently it's also more expensive to watch movies in Australia than in the U.S. One ticket was 16 dollars WITH the student discount you can get if you show your UQ ID card.

The movie was okay, it wasn't that great and it wasn't horrible. Johnny Depp was good though, just as creepy as normal. :)

Jen: today

2010-03-12T09:16:00.000-08:00

The internet access at Cite has not been working, so I have a bit of a back up of blog entries. Right now it is the coffee break during the meeting for starting the international society for ethics education. I am basically in a room with the leading ethicists across the world. I know Wen is probably yawning while reading this, but for me this is really cool. There is representation from Brazil, Ireland, Turkey, Netherlands, Qatar, Nairobi, Botswana, Singapore, Vietnam, and Mexico. Everyone is very friendly, too. They don’t treat me as the intern in the corner of the room who doesn’t matter, they have actually included me a bit in the dialogue. SO COOL.

Jen: yesterday

2010-03-12T09:15:00.001-08:00

So I decided to go to my office-mate’s conference today, which initially I thought was at UNESCO. Turns out it was actually in the 13^th, but there wasn’t much for me to do today at UNESCO and I really didn’t feel like going to class, so I went to the conference. Right now it is the lunch break. I figured I would come because he would appreciate me showing up and it would add to the good working environment. Some of the talks are pretty interesting- it is about heritage and memory of the past, anthropology, and globalization. I am exhausted though from the Geneva trip so I have been kind of dozing off a little bit… and now that I ate a sandwich I can’t just peace… I will have to wait until after the next presentation.

So back to talking about Geneva. Ok, so I was really nervous about flying alone, which I had to do because the others who flew down with me ended up switching their flights because it was too expensive to stay in Geneva (I went through a program, and they covered a lot of the costs). But, it was really cool because the Belgian guy, Michael, went with me to the airport, helped me find where I could go to check my bag, etc. The airport is split up basically into a section for all flights going to France and then all flights going everywhere else. My gate was right next to the other flights section, but separated by a glass wall that went up ¾ of the height of the room, if that makes sense. I texted him that I was near A11, the section that was on the other side of the glass. About 10 min later he showed up and knocked on the glass wall to get my attention. We chilled together for about an hour and a half until my flight boarded (and then his did shortly thereafter I think). We were texting back and forth and throwing notes over the glass wall. It was pretty funny- he was designing like paper aircrafts that would perfectly fly over the wall (he is an engineer)… and I was crumbling paper into a ball to toss over. People were definitely looking. I also chit chatted with the guy sitting next to me who flew back and forth to Geneva in one day for some business conference. He couldn’t find his passport and thought he left it somewhere in Geneva, which was the main topic of our discussion. In the end, he found it in his bag, it was a good moment.

The flight was really short- just 45 minutes. I brought back swiss chocolates, swiss watches, and swiss army knives… typical tourist. Oh ya, and francs, their currency.

There were tons of really cool people on the trip. In case people from the trip actually read this, which I doubt they will, even if I don’t mention your name or write about you, I probably still thought you were cool and memorable, but I guess I am just picking a few things that come to my mind right now.

So there was this other guy, Yehuda, who was absolutely hysterical. His family originally was from Soviet Union, then moved to Israel, and now he is studying in Vienna. We… or really me and like 2 other people… decided that he fit the stereotype of an ‘ars’ which is a term used to describe basically Israeli guido types. It’s like the kind of Israeli you would expect to see on the show ‘jersey shore’ if you can imagine that. He was chill though. I roomed with carol, who is from Belgium and apparently a part of a much larger family of ‘Dwecks.’ Half of the people on the trip knew at least one of her relatives. She was really fun- we would wake up to music in the morning and sing and dance along... and have late night chats about random things.

The brits were also a great time. Oliver, Olly, I’m pretty sure didn’t even realize how funny he was. Well I would say that Danny and Oliver were the super stereotypical jewish-humor duo. For example, when we went to the kosher restaurant and Oliver got chicken that to him looked less than cooked. He was acting like a supreme hypochondriac, asking everyone if they thought he would get sick from the pink chicken. Danny’s response was quite typical. He insisted that Oliver should call over a waiter and try to get a free meal out of it. Between the two of them the scene was absolutely hysterical… and this is just one example.

The Italian girls were pretty adorable and sweet. One of them was telling me how apparently common it is for Jewish Italian girls to get with Jewish Swiss guys, and then conduct all conversations in English. I don’t know why I found this so funny. Maybe because for one the main language is Italian, for the other French, and yet both end up using English. Her and her boyfriend were actually really cute.

Then there was Jona who was I think German… I’m not sure he and I exchanged more than a couple of words, but the occasional nod and smiles probably made my day. It was just one of those things.

Raphael, the Swiss guy, was pretty adorable. He had such a baby face. Miriam and I shared a few conversations over our appreciation for Moroccan Jewry, she was pretty cool.

The Canadians were such a joke, they each had such distinct personalities. There was one, Noah? who definitely was Andy from the Office. Like, he is the same person. There were so many other cool people and maybe I will write more about them later, but I am sitting in the conference… so not now.

It was also awesome that we got to meet with the French, Indian, and Nigerian human rights ambassadors to the UN. The Indian one was really funny and I feel like he was probably really fun to hang out with back in the day. The French guy was very politically correct and very careful with choosing his words…the Indian one much less so I think.

Oy, there is so much.

Also, there is so much I want to talk about that has happened in Paris, but I’m starting to think that won’t happen. This weekend I think we are going on a trip to Normandy and maybe also to Paris’ Disney World. Hopefully at some point I will be able to see Alexandra and Sharon again, because they are both super sweet. They both came with me to the Purim party a couple of weeks ago. I also wouldn’t mind seeing Zev and Jeff again… I don’t know where they were last Shabbat… I was kind of hoping to see them, honestly. They are very amusing, especially when they try to say ‘thriller,’ tell me there are tons of shootings in paris, and call me their closest living friend. Ah, so good.

Also, I have been sipping wine that I got from the lunch… it’s red and pretty strong and not very tasty… but I think people would look at me weird if I tossed it… so I will continue to sip it and cringe.

I have also gotten closer to Alicia, who is one of Aryana’s friends. I told her about a possibly internship opening for UNESCO, which I knew she would be interested in. I don’t know if it will go through, but she had an interview and I guess is waiting to hear back. We are going to dinner tonight I think, along with some of her buds. After that I think I am going with some UConners to an Erasmus party. But I can’t be out too late because tomorrow is a big day.

So tomorrow is the first meeting for discussing the possibility of creating an international society for teaching ethics. I think it is so cool how my internship director seems to really trust me with important things. He took all of my edits and everything for the merging of the society’s constitution (there were different versions, with comments from various ethics experts). The document I made will actually be used as the basis for the meeting tomorrow, and will be what everyone is looking at for reference. I love my internship. I’m going to help with taking minutes and I guess help with anything else (oh shoot this speaker is actually really good… he just totally stole my attention for a good minute… wow. Sidenote haha) that is needed. I will have to be there at 8:45, about an hour before I usually show up… I can’t sleep through.

So the speaker is talking about political philosophy… super interesting.. and he has one of those voices, with the rhythm, and diction… great speaker. Slight English accent as well, the perfect speaker for philosophical dialogue.

Clearly I am coming off as a scatter-brain… but I got back late last night and didn’t get much sleep, so give me some leeway. Also, I just checked, and this speaker is from UNESCO… no wonder he is so good. ; )

A bientot, je suis fatigue…

Wen: It's a Gecko!

2010-03-11T00:45:00.000-08:00

Last night, there was a cool looking gecko crawling on the window! I think it's a gecko, if not, then I'll just say "lizard."

Wen: I got my Brisbane City Library card today!

2010-03-11T00:41:00.000-08:00

So I finally got my library card today! I brought ID and a letter addressed to my residence (my bank card) and got it on the spot!

So far, I've only used it for the Internet access which is only 60 minutes a day! Good thing I have Internet at home!

Anyway, I tried to find the novels we're reading in English class, and none of them were available! I think all the uni students had the same idea I had... :(

Wen: Tonight's Dinner

2010-03-09T01:43:00.000-08:00

Tonight I made another stirfry dinner, but didn't add the rice with the dish, and it came out much better... thanks to the lesson I learned before!

There are two large mushrooms, one green capsicum [bell pepper], two cloves of garlic and some cubed steak. I used olive oil, soy sauce and black ground pepper.

Also, most importantly, it tastes good! The beef is a little dry but I'm not sure how to deal with that... any pointers? Also, I see that it's a little dark from the soy sauce... oh well!

Another thing... Australians like to shorten phrases and put "-ie" at the end. So names like Matthew and Samuel become "Mattie" and "Sammie". The grocery store Woolworths is commonly called "Woolies."

Today, after I cooked, Judy asked me "Are those your mushies?" And I was like, what? I realized that she was pointing to my bag of mushrooms.

Wen: Pasta lunch!

2010-03-08T18:45:00.000-08:00

Last week, I made a large batch of pasta sauce and pasta and froze it. Today I had some for lunch and it was really good!

There's chicken, zuccini and mushroom. On top, I grated some cheddar cheese.

Bon appetite (to Jennifer, who I know doesn't read my blog posts)!!
Okay, back to doing reading! Ahhhh! This philosophy is so confusing... and it's a course on logic and reasoning!

Jen: still at the conference

2010-03-08T08:23:00.000-08:00

Guide to publishing interesting and useful information online as mentioned by the new media and human rights discussion... I hope Wen and I are doing this!
Ask: would *I* like to read this?
Would I share this with a friend
Get involved
Ask questions and start new conversations
"give a little, get a little"

I'm pretty sure we rock this blog. Or more like Wen rocks it... and soon I will too!

Jen: Geneva Summit for Human Rights Tolerance and Democracy

2010-03-08T05:25:00.000-08:00

I realize I haven't posted in a while, but due to the urge of Wenhui, I decided to write an entry. I have to catch up on everything that has occurred in Paris, from Purim to Shabbats to clubs to everything else, but for right now I will blog about Geneva. I am currently sitting at the Geneva Summit for Human Rights Tolerance and Democracy hearing from different political prisoners, etc. It is incredibly interesting. I came with the European Union of Jewish Students, which organized a trip to attend this conference. I didn't think I would be selected because I am not European, but turns out there are people from Canada, Israel, etc. The people seem awesome... Jews from all over the world like Finland, Lithuania, Austria, Belgium, England, etc.
It is really amazing here. I heard from one of the leaders of the green movement in Iran, the first woman presidential candidate in Afghanistan, and other people who are heavily involved in governments across the world.
I need to write more about this and really everything, but I thought this even was big enough to absolutely REQUIRE some kind of entry. I am learning so much.

<3

Wen: OMG it's REAL Chinese food!

2010-03-08T02:38:00.000-08:00

After a long hard day of eating duck, walking around the mall and looking at fish, Ling and I went to her friends' share house and we made dinner!

Wow, it was amazing! We chopped up two onions, four chicken drumsticks, added some yellow curry paste and let it stew. Slightly too much water, but that's okay. Then her friends Kristen and Estelle made a dish of pumpkin and another dish of bitter melon and eggs. After so long of not eating food that tasted really Chinese, I was seriously enjoying the food. It was amazing.

I forgot how much I loved Chinese food. Even the bitter melon, which I normally DON'T enjoy tasted delicious. Kristen, Estelle, Ling and I had an awesome discussion on China, the one child policy, their future jobs, how young people in China view family prospects and a ton of other really cool things. They spoke Cantonese, Mandarin AND English. Pretty cool.

Wen: I went scuba diving!!!!! JK

2010-03-08T02:29:00.000-08:00

I didn't actually go scuba diving, that would have been cool. This was actually an aquarium in the Toowong Shopping Center near where we ate duck.

Their corals and aquarium plants are REAL! Yeah, real. All of the things in there are alive!

This was a cool looking fish. Behind it, all the sponges, plants, anemones are real!

That's some kind of cool spiky anemone. There was also a sea cucumber underneath... I'm just letting you know because it's not actually visible in the picture.

It's Nemo's butt! Any kind of Nemo reference to a clown fish sighting just seems so cliche now. I apologize for the tasteless humor.

Wen: Some Chinese Restaurant

2010-03-08T02:23:00.000-08:00

So Ling, Dane and I went to some Chinese Restaurant to have duck, which I hadn't had in a long time and I really wanted to eat! It was quite delicious. The soup was incredibly salty though. Mine was roast duck and Ling's was some kind of duck with sweet sauce. Dane's was fried rice.

Wen: OMG it's a Gecko!

2010-03-08T01:40:00.000-08:00

Wow, so the other day when I was cooking I saw movement under the cabinets and in corner was this teeny weeny lizard thing!

So I thought it was cute and when I asked Judy about it, she told me that it was probably a Gecko. They apparently eat household pests, BUT they get bigger and make annoying clicking sounds with their throats. I also would NOT want to find one in my room or anywhere near my bed. :)

I wanted to play with it... aka, I wanted to see it run around, so I tried poking it. I don't think I killed it, but it squished into the tiny crack between the cabinets and the floor tile. :(

I'm pretty sure that geckos are quite hardy and they squeeze into small cracks all the time... I think.

Wen: Crock Pot Chicken

2010-03-08T01:29:00.000-08:00

So it seems that I haven't blogged in a long time. This is because I've become overwhelmed with work... just kidding. It's because I've been so busy changing my schedule around and trying to figure out what classes I want to take!

Anyway, a week ago, Judy showed me how to very easily and cheaply cook a chicken and use the meat for sandwich meat. Wow, the whole process is quite easy and the only pain is clean up!

I bought a frozen chicken from Woolworth's and defrosted it for a day. We took out the chicken from the packaging and patted it dry. The frozen chickens are a cheap alternative to fresh chicken, which is a cheap alternative to raw chicken breast, which is a cheap alternative to chicken deli meat!

The spices we rubbed onto the chicken were more for color than for flavor! I think in the future, I might try and add some flavorings...? Maybe.

Anyway, we added black pepper, Chinese five spice (whatever that is, Amir you remember the star spice that you saw? I guess this is ground in), Biryani, Light Soy Sauce and Ketchup (or as Australian call it, tomato sauce). Judy said that when the chicken cooks in the Crock Pot, it doesn't get the nice roasted color as oven cooked chickens, so these spices and sauces give it some color!

After many many hours during which, I forgot about the chicken on numerous occasions, the chicken was "done." In actuality it was cooked throughly many hours before, but just leaving it in makes it more soft and tender. Btw, the Chicken was raised with some aluminum rings (or as Australians would incorrectly call it, aluminIum... yeah it doesn't make sense to me either. Haha, just kidding, no offense to any Australians reading this) and ceramic spoons so that the chicken didn't simmer in it's own juices and get super soft.

I then deboned the chicken and put it on the plate, and from the plate I bagged the chicken and froze them for lunch wraps!

Wen: First day of class and Dinner

2010-03-01T05:02:00.000-08:00

Today was the first day of class!
I ended up getting there 15 minutes late because I couldn't find the classroom! Then when I sat down, I realized that the professor only spoke Alien. That's right ladies and gentlemen of the science major... I was in a philosophy class!

Yeah, so as he kept chirping and garbling, I kept getting more and more nervous because I could only understand about 30% of what he was saying. During times of mental clarity, I could vaguely pick out words like "the", "is" and "he". It also didn't help that this guy talked incredibly fast. I already have some trouble understanding the thicker accents, but when you add speed into the mix, I find myself repeating what the guy said in my head with American English. Haha.

Anyway, I was also made aware of the fact that it was a second year class, and I was expected to go in with some background knowledge. This was a problem because as a science major, I never took any philosophy classes... hence why I was taking this class for my philosophy gen ed.

When I got back home, I quick enrolled in a 1000 level class called PHIL1110 Critical Thinking. Hopefully this will go better with my lack of experience in philosophy. The class is Friday, so maybe I'll have Wednesday, Thursday and Friday classes during the week and work on the thesis on Monday and Tuesday.

After class was over, I was dazed, and decided to go home, and brave the pouring rain. Thankfully Judy called and said I could catch a ride with her if I took a bus to Indooroopilly Shopping Center.

At the shopping center I got some mushrooms, tomatoes, noodles etc, and I ended up using them in my dinner concoction!

It turned out awesome, and I was glad I finally got olive oil. I also used chopsticks that Judy had... yay! Now, I have chopsticks!

Wen: Australian Things

2010-02-27T20:12:00.000-08:00

So, I've compiled a list of "Australian" things that I've seen here.

This drink is called Berocca and apparently it's just a bottle of water, except there's a tablet with vitamins and orange flavoring. It's carbonated so that when you twist open the bottle, it drops in the water and dissolves. Pretty cool, I guess.
I haven't seen it before in the US, but maybe I'm just not cool enough to be familiar with all the current drink varieties.

So, Dane and I got take out last night from this place called the Noodle Box. Apparently it's quite popular with youth and adults here. I've seen ads for it on TV. I'd say that it's similar to ummm.... maybe Taco Bell? But probably like 90% less processed and 99% less carcinogenic. Oh, this food is also not a laxative.
It's basically noodles stir-fried with meat and "Asian" veggies. Haha... this little baby, which was probably around a pint, was 8+ dollars. Wtf.. yeah so at home it might be 5+ dollars. Yes, people, food is much more expensive here.

I also thought I'd talk about the Go Card... just because all students pretty much need one when they get here. Public transportation is so important. Of course, I'm not really used to it, because even the hobos of CT have a car... jk.
But, I'm glad they rely so much on public transport! Not glad that it's $1.30 one way to UQ!
Their buses run on natural gas, so emissions are quite clean and don't eff up the environment.

I'm sure many people have heard of Australian "Vegemite". It's made by Kraft, with was surprising, because I never see it in the US. And apparently when it is sold in the US, Kraft takes the logo off. I now understand why.
I blogged before about it and how it tastes like solid soy and I started gagging... well anyway, it's potent.
It's made from "brewer's yeast extract" so basically all the stuff that was leftover from making beer, they made into Vegemite. Cool!
Haha... fantastic. Maybe I will learn to love this stuff. Probably not.

Wen: Hanging out at home

2010-02-25T01:00:00.000-08:00

Wow. so I didn't do much today, just cooked a lot!

I boiled pasta and made pasta sauce with base, mushrooms, zucchini and chicken. I think it turned out alright, although I only took a few bites. The rest went into the freezer. I did some research online, and apparently there are a great deal of recipes called OAMC which stands for "Once a Month Cooking". Apparently you just spend a lot of time cooking it and you make a ton and just freeze it all. Yeah, so that's very convenient.. and I'm not really used to it because at home my mom and dad make all the meals on the spot.

Anyway, Judy made ice-cream this evening with an ice cream maker! I had never seen one of these before! It's vanilla flavored, and you can see that the ice cream is about to come out because it has so much air mixed in. I believe it was made with condensed milk, cream and vanilla flavoring. Pretty cool. I tasted some and it was really good!

This Koala bear clip on was something I got from Market Day and it was probably my favorite freebie.

It's super adorable and it clip well. it's currently on my purse, and I hope I don't lose it!

Apparently it's very Australian, and kids like to clip them to their backpacks or something. I have the same idea as Australian kids... I think I'm assimilating very well.

Wen: Market Day

2010-02-24T01:18:00.000-08:00

Wow, so Market Day was intense. I took the bus this morning and got there around 10am, and there were already hundreds of people there!

I thought it was going to rain because the forecast predicted it, so I brought my umbrella. It ended up not raining, so I was cool with that. I did notice that I got tan, borderline burnt after walking around today.... note to self, use sunscreen!

Anyway, as mentioned before, Market Day was intense... they gave out a great deal of stuff. Lots of literature and lots of freebies.

I joined Quest today, a group that organizes trips and activities for international students. I think I see a trip to the zoo in the future!

I also got some hats and some drinks. One of them being a RedBull shot... not sure if I'll be using that in the future! Also, one of my favorites is probably the huge bumper sticker that says "Caution, driver may be nude". Very funny.

I also got an assignment pad, which is called a diary here. Since travel is so long and I don't want to be hauling my heavy laptop around, I think I will have to rely on the diary to remember things etc. I've been out of practice with using one of these though!

Wen: Mosquito Bites

2010-02-23T14:08:00.000-08:00

Wow. I have like five mosquito bites on my legs from the BBQ and I want to scratch like no other. I've found that Australian mosquitoes have a bite that not only itches but also hurts. I have to remember to wear long pants if near tall grasses or to apply repellent. This is sooo uncomfortable! Well anyway, I'm off to Market Day!

Wen: Dinner attempt #3

2010-02-23T02:32:00.000-08:00

Wow, I've become so self sufficient it's ridiculous. Just kidding, but I am pretty proud of the fact that this is dinner #3... the third of many dinners I will be cooking for myself.

I can't believe how much I've learned about living on my own since coming here! Less than a week ago, I didn't even know how to stir-fry, now I'm making random concoctions that I think are taste pretty delicious!

Judy showed me how to cook rice tonight and that was so helpful! I'm going to end up cooking rice then freezing small portions. This way, I won't have to keep going back to boiling rice etc.

I cubed the chicken (which was previously frozen) and browned it in the pan, making sure to add some water so the chicken breast (which I bought on sale) wouldn't dry out. Then I put it aside in the bowl. Next was the garlic, then the 1/3 of a tomato then the diced up red bell pepper, which is called "Capsicum" (more accurate scientific name) here and sauteed it for a few minutes. Then I added the chicken and "voila"!

As I write this blog post, I am eating this delicious dish. Yeah, so nice balance of carbs and protein! It takes a while, but it's so good... and healthy!

Enough about food. So, I went to UQ today to get my schedule sorted out. I took the bus this afternoon and the bus driver seemed okay. But on the return trip, the bus driver was sort of nasty and rude. So, I've realized that Australians fall on two ends of the spectrum... either they're really nice and friendly or they seem to be pissed at you. Anyway, I went to get my classes straightened out but maybe I'm used to being at UConn where they hand everything to you, but I felt like I was really lost! Hopefully I've figured everything out for Monday.

In the meantime, I'm excited for tomorrow's Market Day, which is like UConn's Activities fair for campus clubs and organizations. Hopefully I can meet more people!

Wen: Conclusion of First Orientation Day

2010-02-22T06:12:00.000-08:00

This was a big lizard at the UQ Lake... it was pretty cool looking so I decided to take a picture.

There was a huge spider web in the tree... one probably can't tell because the picture is so small, but trust me, it was a big spider web. Also that little dot in the middle of the blue sky is not a blemish on your screen, it is, in fact, a spider!

Here's a cool action shot I took on the bus ride home. Yes, to all of you who have not experienced driving on the left side of the road, I can tell you it's weird at first. Also, I sort of think Australians drive pretty quickly for such hilly and curvy terrain!

So, I go to take a shower tonight and I come back into my room and find A HUGE BLACK WIDOW SPIDER!
Jk, because it's actually plastic and was placed on my UConn T by none other than Dane. Good one... because I did mention that I was concerned about deadly Australia spiders (among other deadly Australian creatures). I guess this goes along with what we learned about Australians today in Orientation. If you don't like it, and they know you don't... DON'T SAY ANYTHING!

Lol, good laugh. I definitely think the crash course to Australian culture was very useful and very funny. I like the intro to Australian sweets, although I will try to avoid delicious Tim Tams and those coconut things that I can't remember the name of. I'm gonna try to learn the perfect mimic of an Australian accent. Dane thinks I'm crazy, but it's gonna happen... for sure.

Wen: The Lake Continued

2010-02-22T06:03:00.000-08:00

A lizard... they just randomly chill anywhere... very cool.

Bam... here's a turtle AND a pelican for you. Yeah, the pelican is cool looking, apparently they're actually quite large. I also saw it eating fish before, but unfortunately my camera retrevial instincts are not well refined.

This bird was cool looking because it was jet black, had a beautiful midnight blue breast and had a scarlet red head.

Wow, turtles AND eels?!?? I know, it's amazing. The turtles were pretty interesting. Apparently some have tracking devices on their backs!

Wen: UQ Lake... I'm not sure what it's acutally called

2010-02-22T05:53:00.000-08:00

Compared to the "lakes" at UConn, the UQ lake is way more amazing. They have tree fulls of cockatoos! For real, like the cockatoos that people buy as pets and teach to talk are the exact same ones that run wild around UQ. They're so pretty and white!

For some reason, something sets off these thousands of cockatoos and they all just fly out of the trees toward some other tree across the lake. It's really amazing to stand underneath and watch all of them flying over you. They're also all screaming their heads off... it's pretty cool!

There are also your basic geese and ducks. When Belinda mentioned geese though, I immediately thought of Canada Geese.. haha, force of habit. UConn has way too many Canada Geese, and way too much Canada Geese poop on the grass and sidewalk. It seems that these birds are not as dirty!

Here's some random thing that looks like a turkey and a chicken mated after one of them had previous mated with a duck.
It's not very attractive, but it was cool looking. Maybe someone will recognize it! It was pretty cool to see all this wildlife...

Wen: Spending quality time at McDonald's and Using Free Wireless

2010-02-22T05:42:00.000-08:00

Jennifer, this one is for you. I was reading a newspaper at McDonald's when I was still bumming at the hostel. By the way, grimiest place ever. Never shall I willingly live in a hostel ever again.

Just a few things for people who aren't familiar with these cheap but grimy places. They're gross. There were like yellow stains on my pillow. I found pubes in my bedding and there were cockroaches in the bathroom.

Anyway, back to the sheitel... this one is for you Jennifer. When you grow up you should get one too

This Ibis was just wandering around the Queen Street Mall, which is a huge shopping center in Brisbane. When I first saw it, I was like omg, that's a beautiful bird! I especially love the tail feathers. Little did I know that locals don't actually love these birds, they actually dislike them! Yeah, apparently they've become so used to humans that they actively seek out food on the street, or even steal it from under peoples' noses! I wasn't just trying to take a picture of the butt, although you can see the fine detail of the tail feathers... I was trying to take a picture but it moved too fast!

Wow, so first night living at the Larsen house and guess who visits us?! A baby blue tongued lizard, that's who!
Yeah, I was super excited about this because I had not previously had the honor of seeing one of these things. Apparently they can get up to twice the size of this guy/girl... and since it was just a baby, it didn't even have a blue tongue yet :(

Wow, as I type this, some kind of animal is screeching outside. I'd say a bat, a possum or something...

Anyway, these lizards eat fruit, so we gave it a piece, but I think that it was too sared to eat and just scurried off :)

Wen: Hong Kong Airport to the Plane

2010-02-22T05:25:00.000-08:00

This was a plane in Hong Kong International Airport... I guess it was the most interesting thing in the airport.
I think there's a dummy inside and he or she is supposed to be flying it, or is a famous person. Sort of reminds me of today's Orientation Session at UQ where they told us about a famous Australia who flew over the Pacific to set a record but he dissapeared. Much like the United State's Amelia Earhart (I might be spelling that wrong).

This was the screen in front of me for my trip to Brisbane. Cathay Pacific provides little screens that are way too close to your face and way to bright to watch. I think they are guaranteed to give you a headache.

OMG, it's BRISBANE! And, it's only 8 hours away! By the way, I'm wearing my winter down coat and I realize that I'll be taking that off when I get to Australiaaaaaaa.

This sign was inside the Cathay Pacific plane and I saw it when I was umm... using the bathroom. It was so hilarious that I took a picture... yeah I'm glad I brought my camera into the bathroom with me.

It says "No Smoking" on the top sign, then there's a cigarette ashtray underneath... HOW CONFUSING is that!?!

Haha...

Wen: When I was in Hong Kong...

2010-02-22T05:13:00.000-08:00

So, I finally downloaded the pictures off my camera memory card!

Here we have a picture of me chillin in my Hong Kong Skycity Marriott Hotel Room during the layover of my Hong Kong to Brisbane flight!

It was quite pleasant staying there and it definitely passed my germaphobe test.
The sheets were clean and new... no weird stains or anything.

This would be the HD Samsung TV I had in my room. Too bad I didn't have anything decent to watch on it. I left it on HBO and ended up watching like two terrible and old American movies. One of them had Matthew Broderick and Meg Ryan the other one had Alicia Silverstone and some guy. I really liked the big window facing the ocean!

The view from my hotel room was pretty cool!

Wen: I have a home again!

2010-02-21T05:02:00.000-08:00

Yesterday night I moved into the Larsen house, and at first I was a bit scared because I thought it was far away and bus riding would be too much to handle, but that was not the case!
They are so cool! Dane's 18 and Judy's his mom... I've met Leisel (yes, the name from Sound of Music!) and I have yet to meet Jess.
Today Judy took me to UQ for the first time and she, Leisel and I walked around campus to get familiar. Afterwards, I went shopping with Judy for groceries etc. This was incredibly helpful, because before this, I had no idea how to buy groceries... yeah, I'm ridiculous. No worries though, because after this experience in Australia, I will be able to function on my own, just in time for dental school!
I also was able to figure out the bus schedules with the help of Dane... wow, public transportation is sort of really confusing to someone who's not used to it!

Here are some things that I have learned so far:
It's pronounced "Brisbun"
They like lots of American TV shows like How I Met Your Mother etc...
Soccer is called soccer here
Kangaroo meat is a delicacy
Possums are not the same thing as Opossums! I know! I thought they were too!
And a ton more information!

So... anyway, I'm going to orientation tomorrow... that should be fun. Until tomorrow!
Oh yeah, food here is expensive. Ugh.

Wen: I can't believe you're gone

2010-02-17T05:17:00.000-08:00

Today was supposed to be my first post back from being blocked in mainland China. When I was at Beijing International Airport, I found out about Sagar through UConn Listserve emails.
I said bye to him before I left for Australia... I still can't believe this is for real. We were all supposed to graduate and go to medical and dental school together.
I wish I could do something, and I know Jen feels the same. Sagar is one of the kindest, most helpful and smartest people I know. I can't believe this. I'm not sure I can express how I am feeling at the moment.
I'm sorry this happened to you, Sagar.

Jen: Missing a very special person

2010-02-16T13:09:00.000-08:00

I know this might seem trite or contrived or who even knows what... but I just felt like I had to write about it. A lot has happened today... cool things even... but I can't really focus on them right now. I don't like posting on facebook walls about this kind of thing or leaving a message as if they can read it, because I know they can't. But, I really do miss Sagar... I hate talking about him as a person who 'was.' He is... he always has been. He is Sagar.
I knew he was a special person even from the first time I met him. At our cpim interview we immediately hit it off, and out of the maybe 15 or so people present, he is the only person I exchanged email addresses with. I could tell that he was not only smart and sociable, but truly kind... the kind of person you can truly respect. And I did.
Although I'm very fortunate to have good friends who call me and skype me and are there for me when I need them most, like times like now, things are still tough. I refuse to believe half of the rumors. I cannot even imagine for a second not seeing sagar ever again... ever. He was the guy we danced with at indian parties... the guy who would smile and wave every time I passed by him... and asked me how I was doing. He was the person who was so willing to help you out with homework or explain things. He carried himself in a way that you wanted to emulate... you could just tell he was one of those people. We all wondered how he could be just so perfect in every way.
He sent me a message on facebook around a week ago asking how I was liking France. We hadn't talked or seen each other for probably a month prior to that, yet he would always remember me.... and I always thought about him. He was just one of those people that you didn't have to see or talk to everyday, but always cared about, and knew they cared about you.
I just don't understand. It doesn't make sense. I miss Sagar. I really miss him. :'(

Jen: BUSY DAY

2010-02-15T09:25:00.000-08:00

I now see how busy I will be from basically now on. I woke up at around 7ish, left by 8:30, and after a cup of coffee at the cafe got into work at 9:20AM. I love the people at UNESCO... also they were having some kind of big general meeting today.. and there were legit people from like iraq and afghanistan and stuff... soooo coooool. The guy I share my office... yes, that's right, I have a fricken office station and everythinggggggg, with is sooooo awesome!!! He like listens to jazz music hah, it's wondeful. He is also from NJ and studied at UChicago. We talked about the good ol' Jerz and chatted like buds! His name is Rami... also, he might get deported... he has to go back to NY to like re-validate his visa or something. He seems like a great person to share an office with.
I spent the morning doing cool internship things, like editing cases that will be in the international bioethics curriculum. I then tried to get my ID badge, at the main UNESCO building, but was unable to because it didn't reopen until 2PM... I have class at 2PM. So I rushed back to the metro, got to class justtttt in time. I love class by the way... j'adore!!! j'aime!!! Although we go super fast and I feel like the tests are going to be riiiiidiculous, it is so much fun! We learn such practical things. The only issue is that I get sooooooooo nervous when she asks me a question and I actually have to talk French. My heart basically explodes through my chest and I feel like I stutter and slur words haha.. it's an awful feeling. It's still a great class though!
After class I ran back to UNESCO to get the ID.... I posted a picture on facebook. We have to return the IDs when we leave... but if we lose the ID it is 10euros to replace.... I can't say I haven't already thought about possibly 'losing' it and paying the 10 euros for one I can turn in at the end of the internship.
Also, I just got an email back from this thing I applied for... basically it is a chance to go with 30 students from the european union of jewish students to the UN and discuss issues of human rights... it's ridiculously cool... and they just told me I was accepted to go. It's in brussels in march... a sunday to a wednesday... I don't know if I will be able to take off from my internship or from class, but I REALLLLLLLLLY want to go. It sounds so insanely cool I can barely control myself! I sent my cv on a complete whim thinking that, especiallllly because I'm American, they would like autimatically reject.... guess not..! AHHHHHHHH I LOVE PARIS and EUROPE !!!!!

Jen: bday weekend!

2010-02-14T14:35:00.000-08:00

It has basically been forever since I wrote a blog entry. This weekend has been pretty ridiculously crazy, as it was my 21st birthday weekend. I think I am just going to some up the events from thursday on... I'm pretty sure I last wrote on tuesday, but I honestly cannot really remember what I did on Wednesday at the moment.

So, for my birthday there were tons of little events. We went to a kosher restaurant and had a morrocan waiter, yoel, who I was able to speak to in French. The restaurant was really nice and they even had a little band thing going on as we were eating. They sang happy birthday to me over dessert... it ended up being just really nice. We also went to the mix, which always is a good time. I actually found out that one of the morrocan guys we met there is Jewish... which I would have never guessed in a million years. They also rented out the bottom of antidote for my bday, which was really nice (it was basically dancing/dj downstairs). So many people ended up showing which was really cool. Towards the end of the night my feet were in so much pain that I took off my heels and walked barefoot outside. When antidote was closing, we went to another place and met some pretty cool guys who offered to drive us home so we wouldn't have to take a taxi. It was a pretty sweet deal, and obviously the one who was driving had not been drinking. He was actually muslim, and I guess pretty devout in that he doesn't drink alcohol. Either way, it was pretty awesome.

Colleen and I also had a night out just the two of us where we ended up meeting up again with nizar and waseem at a salsa club.... it was really nice- I had a great time. We also laughed A LOT at the most ridiculous things, I'm pretty sure they thought we were half crazy.

Today for valentine's day we invited over arthur and charlele as well as AZ and Georgia. We watched pretty woman and made French toast- delicious. Georgia also made chocolate cake. Arthur, probably the nicest guy almost ever, got the four of us girls roses which was really sweet.

I start my internship tomorrow... we'll see how it goes! I have also already started my French class and art history class. I'm so exhausted that I'm basically falling asleep while typing... late night last night. I will go into more later when I'm more awake.

Au Revoir!!!!

Jen: amazingness

2010-02-10T10:12:00.000-08:00

Last night we ended meeting up with Wassim, Nizar, and Khaled- the tunisian guys. We met nizar at the mix club last thursday and asked him to bring some friends out and we'd all go to a hookah bar. I actually later recognized his friend wassim from the mix club as well. It was really chill and the place was pretty cool. We had some arabic tea which was delicious. Later we stopped by antidote, khaled left, and we met up with charlele and artheur. It was a great time, and the two guys, two girls balance kept conversation going well.

We stayed there basically until the bar closed... at which point we switched to an American bar. It had really good music and we were able to do some dancing. ALSO, Wassim said he would teach me French and Arabic!!! This was super exciting and plan on taking him up on his deal. He said if I help him with English and Hebrew, he'd help me with French and Arabic. I think it is a wonderful swap. We also got to listen to some arabic music with them and even throughout the night he was teaching me some arabic words... like the nickname he has for nizar, bargali, which meant like night star or something or other.

Today was also really pleasant. We met at Solange's to find out or Sorbonne schedule- first class is tomorrow!!! After that, Colleen, Courtney, and I went to a crepe place and to get coffee... both which were wonderful. The rest of the day has been chilling, which after getting back at 4:30 in the morning, was much needed. Wow, I am a bit all over the place chronologically at the moment. Last night's sleep with the new pillow was great, too.

Tomorrow is my BDAY!!! We have all kinds of fun stuff planned. Tonight we are going to watch a movie and take shots at midnight... and then tomorrow we are going to go out to a kosher restaurant, see the eiffel tower sparkling, and end it with the Mix club... the party will basically not stop. Going to dinner soon, more later!

Au Revoir!

Jen: le defense et plus!

2010-02-09T09:29:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure if that title made any grammatical sense... but it was supposed to be the defense (the area we went to) et plus (and more!). Either way, today was quite awesome. I went to micefa in the morning and YES, got another ID card. I'm not sure if I've blogged about my obsession with ID cards but anyone who truly knows me would know that I absolutely love having different ID cards from different places. I also paid for the fountain bleu trip which will be this weekend.
After that, Jill had the wonderful suggestion to go to le defense, which she knew had some kind of giant arch-like thing. Two other girls and I tagged along and it was actually incredibly cool. We saw and took pictures by the arch as well as by this weird thumb statue. We also saw that there was a mall nearby, so we were able to participate in one of the last days of the paris sales! Shopping-wise, today was also a great day for me. I finalllllllly got the pillow that I've been wanting (it's a little different and even better than the one in the picture)! It is actually an enormous pink pillow (of course) in the shape of a heart... it was cheap because of valentine's day I think. Across it is written "love." It is really soft and comfortable and I am really psyched about sleeping tonight! But, it was a pain in the neck carrying it through the metro...! I also bought socks which I have really needed and a little area mat for the floor... errr... and a dress. Ok, perhaps I should not stop buying things. It's just that there have been sales and I learned that I could use my ATM card as a credit card... haha, plus they have been awesome buys!
Tonight I am going out with a few of the girls and some guys we met at the Mix to the hookah bar... it shall be interesting...! Argh, I'm going to go shower...!

Bonsoir et beaucoup d'amour! <3

Jen: I love cite

2010-02-09T00:41:00.000-08:00

This morning as I am in the midst of finishing the office episode I was watching last night, there is a loud knock on the door. I figure it is the people to change the sheets... but before I can even get out of bed they open the door. Then the woman starts speaking French to me really quickly... and I had no clue what she was saying. I just kept pointing at the bed and she would respond by pointing at the sink... Then a man came in and injected something into like the pipes by the sink and by the heater. I still have no idea what just went on. Oh well, back to my love... ie. the office.

Jen: A new day

2010-02-08T09:53:00.000-08:00

Today was a day of realizations and pretty fun times. I went to the Jewish student center in the morning, which took me a little while to find. In France, the Jewish centers and places are much less obvious than in America. They are like in back corners and after windy roads... with barely any signs to point you in the right direction. It was cool to hang out there for a little bit and they have a cafe so I was able to also get lunch. I definitely plan to go back! They have a piano there too, so maybe one time when it isn't crowded I can practice? eh, I'll probably be too embarrassed to.
After that, I met up with Jill who legit is really sweet. She is one of the UConn girls. Together, we shopped for shoes... fortunately or unfortunately I happened to be more successful than her in the finding shoes thing. I got one pair of beige boots and one pair of black shoes that will be good for once I start my internship. They were both really good deals because of the sales that are currently going on. : )
Tonight I am going to be getting some dinner with Jill and then hanging out probably with Meghan, Colleen, and the 2 French guys we met in the Kitchen... it should be a relaxing evening I hope.
I totally want to get more involved in the Jewish scene here and I plan too... but once I get more busy I'm not sure how much time I will have to just figure out where/when things are happening. Meh, if there's a will there's a way.
Also, I love my friends. They are great and amazing. <3 <3

Au Revior!

Jen: Free Museum Day!

2010-02-07T09:47:00.000-08:00

Every first Sunday of the month is free museum day in Paris! Today we met with Heidi (the assistant director of the UConn Program) at 10:30 at St Michel station. I woke up the earliest I have in like a week... I need to work on that. The museums were really cool- we went to two all together with her and then the group split up and went to different museums. We saw the prison where Marie Antoinette was held as well as a ridiculously large church. I could look up the names of these places, but meh.
I also made some pretty cool findings at the third museum that I went to with 3 of the girls. There was a tombstone which was in hebrew.... which I found way interesting. It was basically a super catholic museum with tons of statues of Jesus and Mary as well as the Saints and other famous Christian figures. I'm not sure what the tombstone was doing there or who it belonged to. It was sort of in the back corner almost behind a curtain where I think they were restoring things... so it wasn't really meant to be on display. It definitely said something-or-other (it was faded and hard to read) 'bat miriam' ... but that really isn't to helpful or descriptive. The second awesome finding was upstairs in the same museum. There was tons of jewelry on display, which clearly I looked at very closely. One ring had hebrew letters on it... and when I looked at the little description block it said it was a jewish engagement/marriage ring. The ring came to a point at the top and had 6 different faces on the side- which made it harder to understand what was written on it. I had to basically move in all different angles to see all the letters. I was elated when I realized that it said "mazal tov." Pretty darn cool. I even went back to look at it again and I saw that it was from Italy in the 1300's I believe.
After that, we were pretty excited to go to starbucks, which is a pretty rare find in Paris. Not only that it is a starbucks, but that you can get a legit coffee to go- with a disposable cup AND lid. This is fairly uncommon. We met Artheur there, who I wrote about a couple times in previous blogs (usually along with Charlele). This time it was just Artheur. It was actually a really wonderful afternoon. We walked with him through the gardens and had some wonderful conversations. He also is pretty into taking pictures so he was our photographer for the afternoon. Later, he showed us a pool hall and we sat down for a cup of coffee. I will probably be WIRED tonight after drinking so much coffee! At the cafe there was a waiter who was wearing a chai (hebrew for 'life'... it's a jew thing) necklace... I reallllllly wanted to go over and say hi or something... but I was too embarrassed/shy. I told them that when we return to play pool, we MUST go back to the cafe so I can work up the courage to say hi. It probably won't happen.
I just got back and took a shower... and decided to blog. Tonight should be nice as well... time to figure out the clothing situation (and maybe call up the fabulous women to find out how her date went last night)!

Bonsoir : )

Jen: Being French

2010-02-06T15:58:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to comment about how I was pretty French today. Although there were quite a few moments that I was most definitely not French... like at Shabbat lunch when I didn't understand anything or when I had the really cool lady translate for me at the nail place, still I had a good amount of French moments, too. For instance, I was able to give directions to a little old man on the street who was looking for the RER station. Also, I was able to completely order and pay for a crepe in French without any issues. ALSO, I was able to do the French thing when a foreigner accidentally says bonjour during the evening, and respond with an obnoxious, "BONSOIR!" Yes, today was a fairly French day for me!
Also, I learned that a French manicure in France is not just called a manicure... it is still called a French manicure... nifty, eh?
Also, I engineered the sweetest contraption the other day to ensure that my food does not fall off the outside window ledge- ask me about it if you are curious and I'd be happy to explain this work of genius.

Bonne nuit!

Jen: Fantastic Parisian Lady

2010-02-06T12:03:00.000-08:00

Although some of you might have thought I was talking about myself in the title, it actually describes this really cool person I met!!! So after Shabbat I looked up nail salon places in Paris in the 14 arrondisenment (sp?). Either way, I called up 'star nails,' said bonsoir, and then asked the person on the phone if she speaks English (parlez vous anglais???). She said no so she actually got one of her customers to translate back and forth for me. After finding out that it is open until 8PM, I quickly took the metro over. Interestingly enough, this translator lady was still at the nail place when I arrived! I'm pretty sure we clicked immediately in terms of being able to exchange stories and laugh about silly things. We were talking about how she had a date tonight, which is why she was getting her nails done.
So, she is actually from Paris, but lived in London for a bit- which is how she knows English so well. She is going on a date tonight with an American guy from her company (from ohio- by birth state). She asked me for some advice about American men and then returned the favor and told me how to handle a French man. These insights will probably be invaluable. We sat and laughed as we got our nails done... it was great. I also felt very much at home because the nail people were all korean... just like in America. The monopoly they have worldwide on nail places amazes me. I think the big chains should probably take some lessons.
When we were leaving the nail place the Parisian lady gave me her name and phone number and told me I could call her if ever I had any questions about anything or needed help. She said she, too, knows what it's like to be a foreigner in a country where you barely speak the language. She was SUPER helpful and SUPER nice. I think I wouldn't mind going out for a casual cocktail with her and having girl talk. Plus, I really am curious about how her date tonight will go! haha... I love random things like this. Perhaps we will become nail buddies... the possibilities are endless. Oy vey... this sounds ridiculous- don't judge me!

A bientot!!!!!!

Jen: Thieves!

2010-02-05T07:27:00.000-08:00

I went to fran prix again today to get more water because after last night I drank all of the water I had left. I decided to buy TWO big bottles today instead of just the one I usually buy. I also tried to get money out with my atm card but apparently I don't know my pin : /

When I came back, I went to the kitchen to put away the pickles that I also bought. I look inside to see the other knotted plastic bag I had put in there ripped! I take out the food inside and see big bites into my kosher cheeeeeese!!!! Everything else looked untouched, but come on! That's pretty gross!!! They weren't even smart enough to casually unknot the bag then just retie it...! ARG. I will probably just transfer everything except this now gross cheese into another bag and knot it again... and put a sticky note telling people I am very ill and contagious.... they do not want my food!

On the bright side, now I have pickles.

Bonne Journee! : )

Jen: Internship Profile

2010-02-05T05:09:00.000-08:00

So below is the proposed plan for my internship, as put together by my supervisor... check it out!

INTERNSHIP 1 (proposed for Ms Jennifer Chevinsky)	Division of Ethics of Science and Technology Ethics Education Programme (EEP) and Global Ethics Observatory (GEObs)
Title	Assist with preparing documents for the UNESCO Bioethics Core Curriculum; Assist with data processing of the GEObs databases, in particular the Database on Ethics Related Legislation and Guidelines
Related workplan activity	Activity 3 and 4
Supervisor	Tee Wee Ang
Duration	4 months (part time) – Ms Chevinsky can only come in the mornings during weekdays as she is taking courses in the afternoon
Possible start date	8 February 2010
Short description	Within the framework of the Ethics Education Programme (EEP), the incumbent’s work include: Assist with the editing of two bioethics casebooks prepared by the UNESCO Chair in Haifa on “Human Dignity” and “Benefit and Harm” Assist with the editing and updating of Section 2 of the UNESCO Bioethics Core Curriculum Assist with organizing and following up on the meeting to establish an International Society for Education in Ethics Within the framework of the Global Ethics Observatory (GEObs), the incumbent’s work include: Assist with processing data for the GEObs Database on Ethics Related Legislation and Guidelines Conducting Internet searches for ethics experts and ethics institutions that are not yet registered in the GEObs databases Inviting these experts and institutions to complete a GEObs questionnaire so that their data can be entered into the databases Following up with experts and institutions that have submitted questionnaires on any missing information required
Expected results	Casebooks on “Human Dignity” and “Benefit and Harm” edited Section 2 of the UNESCO Bioethics Core Curriculum updated Increase number of entries in GEObs4 by 100; GEObs1 by 50; GEObs2 by 25
Evaluation:	- Expected results above are achieved

How cool is this!!! : )

Jen: First Class

2010-02-04T13:08:00.000-08:00

I'm sure all of you have been envious of the fact that I have had no classes- well rest assured, I had my first class today. I specifically took Thursdays off from my internship so I could attend this Art History class. So far, it hasn't been to mind blowingly interesting, but it's just the first day. I'm excited that we will be able to get into the museums for free... and that at the end I will actually be able to hold a legitimate conversation about artwork... or at least modern/post-modern art. Dare I say it- I think I am becoming cultured!
After class I went to the fran-prix to pick up a couple of groceries. All I really wanted to make sure to get was water. I decided to browse around and maybe pick up a few more items. As I was browsing into the deep back sections to which I had never before entered.... I saw... a kosher section!!! Yes, they had kosher turkey and chicken and cheese and HUMMUS and a bunch of other things! It was funny that I had been in the store about 3 times already and had never noticed it. It ended up turning into a bit of a shopping spree in the kosher section. I came home and had some turkey and lettuce and hummus... and a banana... it was delicious.
Tonight we will be going back to the mix club... we'll see what happens. I really wish the stanford kids would join!!! I don't really have to be awake for much tomorrow, so I'll probably sleep in a bit... again. My sleep schedule is terrible, but I know once my internship starts I will have to buckle down and not go out as much... I might as well enjoy the time off when I have it!
Hopefully I'll blog tomorrow... probably not when I come back tonight. Also... I hope Wenhui is enjoying China!

Au Revoir, Bonsoir!

Jen: Aveinu Shalom Alechem

2010-02-03T17:48:00.000-08:00

So here is the deal. I am completely floored right now. So I ended up going to the bar with some UConn girls and the guys they met previously at something or another. There was this guy hadrian... and legit he sang Aveinu Shalom Aleichem to me. I told him to prove he was Jewish because he had blonde-ish hair and blue eyes. And he sang it! I was soooooo shocked!! Words cannot explain. The rest of the guys were pretty cool too. Although it started slow and I wasn't having the best time initially, it ended up being a great time! Perhaps more tomorrow- je suis fatigue! Holy Moly!!! this guy is for sure Jewish... and an engineer! lol.... crazyness!

Au Revoir!!!
Jen

Jen: Such a JUIF : )

2010-02-03T09:00:00.000-08:00

While going to send in the papers so that we can travel through Europe (etc), we got our Paris University cards!!!! I posted a copy on facebook : ) Once we came back, everyone was discussing plans for the day. I think everyone decided on going to H & M and other department-like stores. Because I was tired of shopping (or more being inside malls and enclosed shopping areas?), I decided to go on a little adventure of my own. I looked through the handy dandy Jewish guide to France and found the Museum of Jewish Art and History.
Although there were probably more direct routes (as I found on my return trip), I decided to go on RER B along with the other girls, and then just get off at St. Michel to transfer to the 4. Unfortunately, once I left St. Michel station I was unable to find where the metro 4 was! I kept walking and finally decided to just take the 10 at Cluny station... on the map it connects to the 4 at Odeon- which is only one stop away on the 10. Perfect, I thought.
Turns out, they decided to close Odeon station. Or rather, they decided that the 10 would no longer stop at that station- we passed through and saw the 4. In the metro it said the 10 no longer stops at that station. OY VEY. I kind of liked the adventure, but also really wanted to find the museum! I got off at the next stop, Mabillion, and decided to look for St-Germain des-Pres station, which was the 4... it didn't seem to far away.
I got off the train and was walking with a mission in mind until... there was a clothing store with really cute clothing... I was going to continue walking but then I saw that there was even a MEZUZAH on the door. This settle the dispute in my mind, and thus I decided to enter (plus I could see the station from where I was standing). I ended up buying a shirt-dress and a couple pairs of tights. The woman was really sweet : )
I left the store and knew there was only about 10 feet separating me from the 4. In the station (pictures posted on facebook) there were all different kinds of displays- some from the holocaust and a bunch were in hebrew! It was pretty cool. I hopped on the train happily, and continued on my vast journey through Paris. I arrived, finally at Chatelet les Halles and then had to transfer on to the 11 in order to reach the ultimate destination of Hotel de Ville. From there I had to find Rue du Temple.. man, let's just say this was quite the adventure as well.. and took me asking multiple people on the street (in French :-O ! ).
Let's skip to when I arrive at the museum- it was AWESOME! The only issue was that I was being super eager and listening and reading everything in the first room... and then the second room.. and by the time I got to the third I was just a bit exhausted. There was tons to see and I definitely did not get through everything. I would love to go back and will probably bring my family there when they come in June. On the way out of the museum I decided that the only thing that could put the perfect ending to the day's experience was finding a kosher restaurant. I pulled out my Jewish guide- and whaddya know?! There are like 8 on Rue Rosiers! I was from that point on determined to find Rue Rosiers. Of course I had no idea where I was going- which meant that again I had to resort to using my broken French to ask random people on the street. *Note about French people* they will ALWAYS say just keep straight and then turn- not at this street, but one of the next. Really not super helpful, but at least they try to be : )
So I eventually find this area and it was like walking through heaven's gates. All of a sudden I see Hebrew writing on the stores, mezuzahs on all the doors, men with Kippot, and Jewish stars all around. While in awe of the treasure I had just found, I continued walking and found a Shwarma place! I walked in... well to the door :/ I didn't realize that you had to pull. The guy in the restaurant laughed at me, which was pleasant. I then tried to order and tried to switch into English. It was CLEAR that he understood me, but he told me no, no, only in French. It was in a joking way though... not malicious. He wanted to see if I could get any redder from embarrassment, I'm pretty sure. So I finally was able to order my Shwarma in a pita and soda. I sat down and enjoyed the first meat meal I've had in a while... first legit meal I've had in a while, actually. The guys working at the restaurant kept coming over and talking to me and smiling.. and some of the waiters even dancing... it was an interesting experience haha. Menachem, one of the waiters, was really adorable. He came over (full black kippa, very chassidishe looking) and asked if I would like coffee. I said no thank you... to which he asked if I spoke hebrew. It was obvious that his English was errr... probably as good as my French. I said yes, and then he asked, in hebrew, which would I like- coffee or tea - for free. I'm pretty sure this is the equivalent of a bar tender giving you a shot on the house... : ) It was very cute... so I said coffee would be very nice.
Ok, because this is soooooooooooooo long I will just end by saying I got back safely with a much easier route. I did not buy a pillow- even though I was on the hunt for one. One of these days I will find a pillow that isn't like 30 euros.
I'm probably going out with the UConn girls tonight... I'll update later.

Au Revoir : )

Jen: Warning!

2010-02-03T00:03:00.000-08:00

This is a warning to realize what exactly you are getting into before you become friends with wenhui. It is 8:30AM approximately my time and I have to leave at 9:15AM... and I was happy to see wenhui arrived in China safely, take a look (please disregard spelling errors, it's gchat!):

wensday623: OMG JEN! i'm in hong kong ! you're the only person alive right now!

Sent at 8:23 AM on Wednesday

me: WENBNNNNNNNNNNNNNN ahhhhhhhhhhhh i've been waiting to hear from you!!!!! you are safe!!! and alive!!!

wensday623: OMG! ahhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!

me: and you have arrived!!!!

wensday623: ALSO THE BLOG WORKS! I CAN SEE IT! yay! now i'm waiting for my flight to beijing ahhh!

me: !!!!! yayyyyy!!!!! when is your flight??

wensday623: then i'll be waiting for my flight to zhengzhou! yayayyy! umm like 5

it's 3:30 now

WAIT jen, question: how much does it cost you to call america?

me: ummm... not sure... i think like 17 cents a min?

wensday623: now way! wow, that's really cheap - on your cell? that's interesting

me: yeh... i switched to an international plan

wensday623: because i'm wondering if you'd be interested in calling my parents lol because i can't get in contact with them the stupid payphones don't accept credit cards

me: haha ... i feel like theyd hate me for calling them at 2:30 am

wensday623: and they only take hong kong dollars

me: can i text??

wensday623: lol my mom was like you better call whenever you get there lol it's the house phone

they would really really appreciate a phone call lol and i would be suuuuuuper grateful

me: i feel like they want to hear your voiceeee not mine lolol

wensday623: i tried iming other people but i think everyone's asleep lol i know! but i can't call!

so i was like maybe you can call and tell them that i'm iming you and say that i told you to call?

ALSO, i'm gonna bloggggggggggggggggggggg

me: eeesh... hahah you know i get akward with things like this! hahaha awesome!!! otherwise i was gonna blog that you are safe!!!

wensday623: lol i know ... i can picture how awkward this is going to be, haha i tried texting my dad but i think he never has his cell - do you know my house number? shit, everything is in traditional chinese like when i open the blog and google all the options are in chinese

me: hahaha, you can switch it to English

wensday623: just not the actual blog part

me: i think.. it switched to french for me.. and i just changed it to english

wensday623: yeah, now it's okay lol phew - also, call them!Lollll

me: haha ! this is so awkward!!! ok should i tell them to call you... or like to go on gchat?

wensday623: lol i know also i passed a kosher cafe thing lol

me: hahha no way! tell me what to say to them and give me your darn number

wensday623: lol they can't call me! the pay phones here don't have numbers! i checked! i told you lol!

203-***-**** this is gonna be hilarious

me: shit. sometimes it sucks being ur friend

wensday623: HAHA thanks jenniferrrrrrrrr - also, i wish i could record this and upload it

me: ahhhh ok your mom told me to tellyou, "ok"

wensday623: haha thanks jennn lol how awkward was it?!? lollll what did you say? Lol

Sent at 8:39 AM on Wednesday

me: hhahaha your mom said thanks for calling.. but it was decently alkward... i told her this is jen- wen's friend... tha she asked me to call you and tell you she is safe and in chinea- waiting for her net flight

wensday623: haha thanks! they also know that you're in france! she must have been confused! hahaha thanks jennifer!

me: ya i said that when i was on the phone haha

wensday623: hahah lol

me: hahah only for you wenhui!

Wen: I'm in Hong Kong!

2010-02-02T23:56:00.000-08:00

Wow, so I'm currently in Hong Kong International Airport and waiting for my flight to Beijing! From Beijing I have to get on another flight to ZhengZhou... fun fun!

Here's the synopsis of my ordeal so far:
I was an idiot going through security and I held everyone up because I didn't know that I was supposed to take the laptop out of my carry-on and out of the case! So people were pissed at me, and I was like, Crap, this sucks.
When I got inside and my dad left me, I waited by the waiting area and called Amir because I was nervous, and I ended up talking to him for quite a while until I was literally up to board. Thanks Amir! :)

I got on the plane and called Amir again until I had to turn off the phone because we were about to leave. No joke, when we were taking off, I was like thinking of the plane in "Lost". Anyway, the whole freakin flight was so cramped. I tried like a bajilion different ways of making myself comfortable in a stupid upright seat. The end result is that my neck and shoulders are cramped. Fantastic.
I watched a bunch of movies, drifting in and out... I didn't really sleep at all. A couple of time my head was slightly hanging out in the walkway and people just ran into me, haha.

The food was not so good... blehhhh... I also think I ate too many instant noodles and it made my stomach queasy. The problem with the flight is that the air is so dry, you want to keep eating or drinking. So, that's what I did. I also had white wine for kicks... it's not that good, but I hoped that my Asian alcohol intolerance would kick in and put me to sleep! I'm not sure if my plan worked, but I'll just make it my goal to try all alcohol on board! The worst that could happen is that I pass out... actually, that could be really bad. Yeah, that's a bad idea, scratch that!

I was also super restless throughout the flight and in order to combat deep-vein thrombosis, I walked around and hung out in the back of the plane. It was pretty boring, sometimes there were babies there, but they were not interested in me, and one was a super crybaby, and it literally cried probably 60% of the trip.

Then when I got to Hong Kong International Airport, I was supposed to call my parents, unfortunately, they only accept Hong Kong coins... so JENNIFER came to the rescue! Jen called my parents from PARIS to tell them that I got to the airport! Haha! She's the best!

Oh no, I think I hear the cry of that relentlessly crying baby! It's coming to haunt me!

:) Peace! :)

Jen: Frog Princess

2010-02-02T14:21:00.000-08:00

After going shopping today in the big mall - which I'm not sure whether I blogged about, either way I bought boots and tights (very French...!) - we went to see Frog princess in the movies. It was really cute actually... I won't ruin it for those who haven't seen it, but I did find the food references very amusing. The theater was filled mostly with French guys and their girlfriends, it was pretty adorable. The movie was in English with French subtitles so it was fun to glance down every so often and try to match the English words to the French translation. It ended up being a pretty nice evening, and it is probably good be in a bit early because we have to wake up around 8:30 tomorrow morning to fill out our residence forms or something? Basically, when we got our visa they gave us forms that had to be mailed in somewhere along with a copy of our passport and the French stamp that we got... We are all going to be taking care of it together tomorrow, so that should make things easier.
Also funny, on the way back from the movies I was listening to music and kind of bobbing my head (without noticing I was even doing it!) to the beat. This guy turned towards me and started smiling and bobbing his head to the same rhythm as I was. It was pretty cute.. haha, but I got super embarrassed.
Tomorrow evening I think we are going either to a club or out with some French friends some of the UConn girls met? We'll see.. maybe the Stanford kids are doing something? Should be fun either way : )

A bientot! <3

Jen: Going into the Pantheon

2010-02-02T05:27:00.000-08:00

Granted I did walk by the Pantheon the other day which was quite nice, today I actually went inside!! It was pretty darn cool- so many famous and important people buried there. The art work was amazing and it was just wow. I definitely plan on bringing my family there when they visit. I spent forever wandering around the crypts. It was also interesting that as I walked to the back there was a video that was going on a loop I guess of many different videos- as I walked up it started talking about France denouncing antisemitism and I could understand a good amount of it... mainly because every other word was juif (jew). Yep, pretty sure they played it just for me ;)
I also bought SHOES today... little black boots, as did one of the other girls. We are going to go shopping later today also. I should probably go to the ATM because I'm starting to run a little low on $$. I haven't even really bought much... I feel like the shoes were really like one of my first real purchases here. Haha, I guess this isn't quite the adventure I promised, but the day is not over!

Jen: KNOCK KNOCK!

2010-02-02T02:17:00.000-08:00

Even though I kind have been awake for hours, I was resting in bed for a bit... I'm not meeting up with everyone until 11:30 so I had time to chill and relax. All of a sudden... KNOCK KNOCK! I thought I was dreaming this loud bang on the door, but again comes an obnoxious KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK! The housekeeping services is at the door with sheets... so I have to quickly strip my bed of sheets and bring it outside the door. I then run back out to get new sheets and a pillowcase. If I wasn't completely awake before, I am now. I remade my bed and folded the blankets neatly on top... I wonder how long it will stay like that.

It's 11:11 Paris time... that was for you diane (again)!

Gosh, I have to get changed and ready for the day. Hopefully there will be some legit exploring and some pretty cool pics... guys, just wait in suspense!

Jen: Some pics from PARIS

2010-02-01T17:38:00.000-08:00

Jen: changing it up

2010-02-01T17:28:00.000-08:00

I am talking to wen on Gchat and laying in my bed... but get this... in the opposite direction from normal. Sometimes I like to change things up and see things different ways. I decided to pull my pillow to the other side of the bed.. it's actually quite nice; this is the second night I have done it... and I slept pretty well last night. Also, my computer cord can then reach the outlet. All around a great set up.
So today I put more credit on my phone all by myself!!! I went to the tabac store and gave 25 euros.. he then gave me the slip and I called the number and figured out which numbers to press and was able to figure it out!!! I then went to a cafe and got un creme... man I am getting to be such a pro at ordering coffee!
I walked all around the park and throughout cite today which was pretty nice as well. The park is so beautiful!!! I came back to the room a few times and spoke with my mom and my grandma. My grandmother is hilarious : ) She just got a new apartment in Florida and is very excited about it- yes, she is a typical Jewish grandmother... and it's great.
Hmmm so we also went to the dining facility for dinner which was actually pretty good and A LOT cheaper than just about anything else. Speaking of cheap stuff, everything here is expensive except for the wine and the bread... they are probably cheaper than you could ever find in America... and much better.
Later this evening the UConn girls met up and we went back to that first bar where we met Arthur and Charlele... we hung out with them again tonight. It was very chill... and thank God this time we didn't have to walk back! We took the metro/tram and then hung out it one of the rooms for a bit... and then I decided I REALLLY wanted to talk to Wen before she went to sleep- because she is waking up early to go to her motherland! Man... now Wenhui will have tons of exciting things to say.. like how she was auctioned off on the corner or something... and thus starts the competition for the most interesting posts!!! She also told me she gave the link of the blog to the premed advisor... if you are reading this- Hi Dr. Crivelo! haha!
So basically nothing too exciting... maybe tomorrow will bring better and more exciting stories??
A bientot, bisou bisou!

Wen: When Jennifer Left! :'(

2010-02-01T09:33:00.000-08:00

Wen: The "Push Up" toy that came out of Dirty Minds

2010-02-01T09:28:00.000-08:00

Wen: Pictures from when we hung out in Phil's room!

2010-02-01T09:26:00.000-08:00

Wen: I Am Leaving Tomorrow... wow.

2010-02-01T08:52:00.000-08:00

So, I have been quite stressed out about leaving. My luggage is 95% of the way packed. I have an inkling that my check-in luggage might be exceeding the limit (50 lbs), but no matter. I will be weighing everything and hopefully after moving things to my carry on, or taking things out (yikes!), I will be all set. I still don't have one of those plastic baggies though, to put liquids in... oh well. I thought I remembered that they were free at JFK.

So here's my itinerary:
Leave around 5am tomorrow.
Drive to JFK.
Get through security etc and relax before my flight gets there.
I've searched online for free wifi hotspots, it seems that Terminal 6 has free wifi, and I'm going to be in Terminal 7. We'll see how that turns out. I'll be online probably around 8ish, so the rest of the college population is going to be either asleep, in class, or for the select few.. drunk.
I'll get on the plane and fly to Hong Kong
Then to BeiJing
Then to ZhengZhou and stay with my grandparents for a few days
Then to ChangChun and stay with my other grandparents for a few days
Then to BeiJing
Then to HongKong and I'm staying the night there... whoopie
Then to Brisbane

Wow... I'm thinking that I should get on a frequent flier program or something.
Also, I looked this up, and for anyone going to HongKong International Airport or Beijing International Airport in the near future: There's apparently free wifi in Terminal 3 in BeiJing and free wifi throughout the airport in HongKong... cool.

Also, as a warning, I WILL NOT have access to Facebook in China, the government bans Facebook. Haha, so hopefully Google will not be pulling out of China in the near future because I will be very sad and unable to access Gmail!

Also, I'm determined to find a Persian friend in Australia so that I may attend Nooruz festivities in Australia. Jen found one in Paris, and she's gonna be doing the whole deal in France! I'm a little envious (and jealous) haha, so now that's going to be one of my goals there!

Also, I literally just found out that Blogspot is likely banned in China. Haha! I may have to send my blog posts to Jennifer so she

Publish Post

can post it. Jeeze... what if they track that too!?!

We'll see :)

Jen: becoming slightly more aware of my fan base

2010-01-31T15:35:00.000-08:00

So I know I haven't blogged in awhile and it's a shame because A LOT has actually been happening. So I went to a few clubs over the course of the weekend with Aryana and her crew- which was really really really fun! One night I got in free because some guy decided to pay for me (the mix?)... another it was ladies night so we got in for free... and others we had to pay, but it was still a great time. At one of the places we got into a bit a of a dance off which was fun (cafe oz)... I also met a girl there who was from my town! At Queen, there was lots of techno music, so we ended up leaving after just a bit- cool part was that we got in because we were on the 'official list.' Their language partners knew someone or something and they got all of our names on to the list... which felt pretty sweet.
Mind you, I have been getting back at like 6:30 in the morning most of these nights... because the metro closes at 1 and doesn't reopen until somewhere around 5 or 530AM. One time we went down the up escalator, which was off, in order to get into the station which was otherwise closed. Some creepy guy followed us in and we had to pretend we were from spanish speaking country and could not understand when he was speaking to us in french OR in english... well I guess we didn't have to, but it was pretty darn fun doing it. Especially the part when he left and didn't knife us- that was pretty fun. I guess we have had a whole string of random guys who have been creepily following us and trying to ask us questions. I know today for me, some guy came up while I was waiting for the metro and started speaking to me (telling me i am nice and that I'm a princess :/ ..yeh, it was awkward). So when he asked, I told him I was in Paris just for the week- originally from montreal. Well, I have actually told many people that I am from Montreal so they don't judge me as being a girl from the US... the ones who can't speak french... ya.... So either way, I avoided that one as well. Apparently being semi-chased by random french guys is normal.
Ok, then tonight I got a drink with the guy from scrubs.. kind of : ) It was decent. We may go for some candian throw up looking dish on tuesday- ya, it shall be pretty exciting. We exchanged many strange stories- I guess that makes it a good time? (WENHUI- remember to ask me about this, I will explain!)
Also, we went on an open bus tour today... which was absolutely freeeeeeeeezing! But I guess it is cool to have a tour of paris and have some idea about where things are or what there even is to see.
OHH Also shabbat- so I went to the chabad for friday night dinner and saturday lunch. It was really nice of them to invite me over... and their two youngest are adorable! They have 4 children- the two older are boys and the younger are girls. It was interesting being there- they were talking a bit about religious life in France... She also said how they car has been smashed on multiple occasions by neighbors... how the french tend to be a little less tolerant towards religion :/
On saturday, following lunch, we went to a nearby shul for a tu-bishvat party thing. It was pretty cute and the people there seemed to be very nice. The only issue was that many of them spoke ONLY french and not really any english. This made conversation pretty challenging. Also it was a bit frustrating when one of they guys stood up to give a dvar torah and the only things I could understand were the bits and pieces of hebrew he threw in... and something about character traits? I really couldn't even tell you. They will be doing a shabbaton there in a few weeks so I'm actually pretty excited about that... it should be really nice. It would be cool to get a little bit more into the jewish community here... I'm working on it.
Also, there is another girl here, a friend of Aryana's, who also is super into UN stuff and has interned at a few different agencies. She is also interested in interning at UNESCO... so it was pretty cool to talk to her about that kind of stuff... very few people are actually interested to hear about what I think is the coolesttttt thing ever (as in stuff that happens at unesco.. pertaining to human rights and bioethics.. and the details of my internship).

man, i really breezed through everything, even though every story i mentioned has a bazillion and one more details. I should probably get some sleep- I overslept today and missed the first loop of the bus tour : /

bonne nuit! <3

Wen: Don't worry, Jen's hasn't dissapeared, she's just shabbating

2010-01-30T13:19:00.000-08:00

So, here's what I've been up to:
Nothing. I'm exaggerating, but really, I'm super unproductive. The suitcase to the left is not mine, but it is empty like mine and is red like mine.

The problem is, I have to pack because I'm leaving Tuesday morning to catch a flight at 9:15am. Yeah, that's fantastic. I have to get there 2 hours ahead, AND the driving takes like almost 2 hours... so that means I'm leaving around 5am?!??!?!

This is going to be a problem. Haha.

So, I have not packed yet and I have lots to do. Yesterday I went to KMart and got a plug adapter for Australia, a travel pillow for the horrible Coach seats and my favorite, I got 4 little 3oz plastic bottles for facewash, lotion etc. The flight's 18 hours so I'm hoping to bring my mp3 player and listen to some book tapes. I was about to download the Twilight series, but after watching the movie with Amir I reconsidered. Anyway, I wanted to bring my laptop and get some work done, but it turns out that adapters/inverters are SUUUPER expensive. No go on that idea!

I also fake booked a ticket for Cathay Pacific to see if I had any chance of moving up a few row or out of Economy, but it seems that out of 353 seats on this Boeing 777-300 plane, there are two still open in economy. One of them just so happens to be on my left... yay for space?!? I guess I should be lucky that I'm sitting in the aisle, although I am in the second to last row, very near the bathrooms.

Hopefully the food will be good. The website says that they have a full stock of food that you can snack on anytime. I might just really, really take advantage of this. And when I say I might, I mean I will. It makes sense, because heck, what am I going to do on a 18 hour flight!? Anyway, I paid for it! Also, I should stock up on food when I get to Hong Kong, or even Beijing for that matter because layovers are annoying, and I don't want to get hungry and buy super expensive airport food. By the way, I'm staying in Hong Kong for a night because my layover is super long. That should be an interesting blog post. :)

Jen: I feel like it's been a while

2010-01-28T09:45:00.000-08:00

So it has probably been less than a day since I last posted, but it feels like practically forever. I have to leave for a welcome dinner in about one minute- so here is a summary of the ongoings since I last posted. Hopefully I will post tonight as well- but I think it will be a late night. So basically last night I didn't end up going out, but I did go up to visit that girl I know from the Harvard summer program, Aryana. So I am REALLY happy that I went up because she is super sweet and all her friends seem really cool and funny as well. I think I might go out clubbing with them tonight, hopefully- at least that is the plan.

I took the sorbonne placement test today- and obviously I tested as beginner- no shock there (or as they say debutant?). We went back to the crepe place after that which was really good. I also found the Chabad today and will be going there tomorrow for shabbat.

Ok- must run! Out to the dinner!

Wen: Posting something purely for the sake of posting

2010-01-27T10:57:00.000-08:00

So, obviously Jennifer has been out posting me with her fantastic adventures in Paris.
Just wait until I get to China and Australia. I will become a blogging fiend.

Anyway, so today I made a wonderful discovery that I thought I should share with everyone. As most UConners know, South Dining Hall has been under construction and we're all forced to use paper and plastic dishes and utensils. This has been great for me because it means that I have an endless supply of these things for the apartment. I especially enjoy the hot cups, because they are incredibly useful for making tea... and oh yeah! They have "free" tea at South too! My favorite combination will have to be a combination of Mint Medley and Lemon Lift. The only problem with the South hot cups is that they don't come with a cap or prepackaged honey. The caps are essential to not burning your flesh off when you walk at a brisk pace, and the honey is essential to making the tea taste delicious.

Anyway, I'm currently at the library and now this brings me to my wonderful discovery. I took the hot cup up to the counter and asked for hot water, which was delivered to me in a timely fashion, then I proceeded to find a stirring rod for the honey that I brought in another hot cup. On the table next to the utensils I found CAPS! I remember thinking, wow, that would be cool if they fit onto my cup. And they do! So basically, if you need to stock up on caps for your free South hot cups, you can find them at your nearest Homer Babbidge Library.

The end.

JEN: UNESCO!

2010-01-27T02:55:00.000-08:00

Ok, so my computer is going to die soon so this will actually be quick (unlike many other times when I say it will be quick and it very much isn't). UNESCO is awesome! The internship director guy is AWESOME. We discussed possible options for the internship and he is going to get back to me with more details after he meets with the bioethics director tomorrow. Everything he suggested sounded SO cool. I may be able to review the information that has been sent in by the bioethics center in Haifa... which is the place I was going to intern if UNESCO fell through. I am already familiar with the director there and the stuff they work on. This is AWESOME. Also, I get to learn more about what Israel has been doing as far bioethics is concerned. OMGOSH this is so far everything I expected and wanted out of this internship and MORE. He is so chill and was totally cool with me taking off the breaks that normal University students have here, AND he said I can have off Thursday so I can take the Art History class that I was a little bummed that I was going to be missing. THIS IS AWESOMEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!! Literally, I could't stop smiling while I was there and even as I left. I will be able to attend the first international ethics education meeting in March and help with organizing and stuff.... AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH SOOOOOOOOOO COOOOOOOOOOOOL!!!!

Jen: Cafe Au Lait, Sil Vous Plait

2010-01-27T00:33:00.000-08:00

So I am currently sitting in a café- it is 9AM approximately on Wednesday writing a word document in order to later copy and paste into the blog. I just ordered my first thing by myself!!!! I got café au lait… and he understood!!!! He did switch to English… which is fine, I mean I know I still sound super American plus I was incredibly hesitant. Still, I’m sitting here sipping my coffee, and it is awesome- well not as much the coffee- more so the idea of being able to sit down and drink it after I successfully ordered it. I sort of plan to stay here for an hour, so hopefully they won’t kick me out… my internship meeting is at 10:30 and I left at like 8:30 in order to make sure that I got here with enough time. On to perhaps more exciting things.

So last night we went out and it was REALLY fun, actually. We went to this beauuuutiful area to what was called the 'student bar' for happy hour. It was nice to just sit back and casually sip a cocktail without it being a matter of getting plastered. We continued on to a crepe place which was also really cool and I learned some new vocab like eouf fromage which means egg with cheese basically. Then as we were wandering around we found an Irish pub place which looked pretty nice- so we went in. We sat down on one side of the bar and on the other there were a bunch of other people. One of the girls from our table went over to the other side and started up a conversation with the others, and eventually the rest of us joined in. We met two French guys, one who claimed to be Dutch, ‘Charlelee (supposed burberry/eve saint lauren/high fashion model now working for Apple),’ and the other, ‘Arthur (arteur, student at a nearby University).’ We also met the two English girls who were sitting at the table next to theirs. It was really cool- they were teaching us some French and offered to show us around Paris one of these days. Charlelee even got us all drinks, but not in a sleazy way. We stayed out until after the metro closed which was like by 1AM. Charlelee and Arteur offered to walk us all the way back to our dorm, which was actually like 40 minutes away walking… not as bad as we thought it would be. They also were going in our direction as they live, so they say, about 15 minutes away from Cite. At the end the two guys exchanged numbers with some people from our group so we can contact them again and said the typical French goodbye with the double kiss cheek thing… ya, I think it is starting to sink in that I am seriously in Paris.

Jeez, the coffee actually is really good. Haha, this is clearly a longer post because I am just chilling in the café until around 10… it’s right across from my internship building. I think this might be my place for morning coffee. It isn’t even so expensive compared to what we were told to expect as per coffee pricing. It is 3.30 Euro, which granted is not cheap… probably the equivalent of like a starbucks coffee… still we were told around 5 was normal. I have no idea how long people generally stay at a cafe so I hope I'm not being rude by sitting here forever.

Oh shoot, turns out this place doesss have wireless! Man, this is definitely going to be the spot. Also, weird trend- all of their coffee places are also bars. I haven't seen a single cafe that is justtt a cafe... this happens to be a bakery/cafe/bar... no way to go wrong. By the way, the coffee actually looks exactly the same as in the picture... the cup is practically identical, but the coaster doesn't have a yellow border.

Jen: Many Findings

2010-01-26T11:26:00.000-08:00

So after I came back from the grocery store this morning I went for a trial run to UNESCO.... it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be! I turned the wrong way a few times while walking, but took the correct RER and Metro and got off at the right stops and everything. It was awesome. Also, I did some exploring and I think I found the eiffel tower!! Ya, so some great findings today.
I also made it back in time to meet up with the girls at 4:30... like perfect timing. I went back with them to the same grocery store and clearly something else HAD to happen. The cashier accidentally rung up my stuff along with the stuff of the guy after me... and put it on one bill. Of course they were trying to figure out how much then I had to pay and how much the other guy had to pay, which made for some very complex sentences that I did not at all understand. It was VERY clear that I spoke English, so I was a little irritated that only once I asked in French, "parlez vous anglais," did the guy switch to English to explain to me what was happening. It took like 20 minutes for them to subtract the price of two items from the entire bill... it was crazy. It probably would have taken less time if she just re-rung us up altogether.
Now I'm going to be heading with the girls to find out about the night life... we'll see what happens. I don't want to be out too late because I have to get to UNESCO tomorrow morning... and not sleep through.

A bientot : )

Jen: Breakfast

2010-01-26T05:06:00.000-08:00

So I went downstairs and luckily there was a girl from UConn who has been here already for a semester. After some small talk, she offered to show me where the supermarket is so I could pick up some stuff (apparently the main breakfasty place is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays). Now I know where to get groceries! I bought bananas, muffins (which she said were delicious, basically a must have), laundry detergent powder (the machines downstairs don't like liquid), WATER (ahhh I have been sooo thirsty), plastic cups, and tea bags (didn't think about how I don't really have access to hot water).
The grocery store was pretty funny... there was TONS of wine and beer and biscuits (which really are just cookies). When I went to go pay for everything, I was feeling semi-confident. I said bonjour back to the cashier and gave a 20 euro bill to cover the 10.52 that everything cost. Suddenly she mutters something realllllly quickly, to which I cleverly reply "uhh uhhh... qua?" She repeats it again, but I already knew that it wouldn't help... so I asked the girl who went with me to the store to translate. Apparently she was asking if I had exact change (the 52 cents or whatever). Meh... from now on the answer to every question that I don't understand will just be "non." We'll see where that takes me.
Either way, I am excited to have my breakfast of a banana, muffin, and best of all COFFEE. So I was able to get coffee from the machine downstairs because now I had change! I got cafe long au lait sans sucar! Ok, breakfast time and then hopefully I'll meet up with everyone for shopping. EFFF I meant to buy pens/pencils at the grocery store... completely forgot. Perhaps today while we are out I will be able to... I also need to figure out how I will get to UNESCO tomorrow morning... I should probably leave at 8AM... even though it's half hour away and I have to be there at 10:30... I am confident that I will probably somehow get lost.
Au revoir!

Jen: Shower Work Out

2010-01-26T03:27:00.000-08:00

Ok, so here is a quick blog. I just missed breakfast with the group because I completely slept through. I set my alarm for really early so I could wake up and shower and have some time to chill. Instead, I hit snooze and slept until 11:30. Oops. I thought I would easily wake up because I was having such trouble falling asleep anyway. Apparently once I got out of bed at 5AM and figured out how to turn up the heat and used the lady's room (which I was too scared to walk to and 12AM last night...), the sleeping was a lot easier to manage. They texted to ask where I was and when I called (an hour late), they said they were just returning from breakfast... I'm going to tell them to just pound down my door next time. So once I get dressed I'm going to hunt down breakfast on my own, and then everyone is meeting up like maybe 2ish to leave for a day of shopping.
So here is the exciting part... their showers are STRANGE. Here is the deal: you walk in and they seem pretty well kept and first once your like yes! this might not be so bad! Of course, you have to flip the switch DOWN to turn on the light (seems to be a trend here). Then you walk in one of the four separate shower stalls, put your stuff down on the fairly large bench outside the shower and continue to walk in. There is simply one button, so you press it. There is NO temperature gauge at all.. .no way to make it hotter or colder. Luckily, the temperature was actually pretty nice, as was the pressure (no way to control that, either). Here is the kicker, when you press the button, the water only continues to flow for like 30 seconds. That's right, so every thirty seconds you are again pressing in this little button. Now, you can imagine how much faster these shower go, or rather how much longer they seem, when every thirty seconds you are pressing a button for more water to come. The thing is, you can't lightly tap it either, it has to be a real push with finger vigor.
Alright, time to get dressed and make a fool of myself trying to order cafe en creme? and un croissant?

Jen: my blogging is out of CONTROL

2010-01-25T14:58:00.000-08:00

So for the third time in one day, here I am again. I just don't want to miss any of this craziness and forget about it. So a couple of cool things have happened tonight. We went to the director's apartment and she brought dinner for us. She was nice enough to get kosher chicken for everyone, just so I would also be able to eat and not feel at all uncomfortable... she even had plastic plates and utensils and everything... it was really really nice and super unexpected. I mentioned that I kept kosher like once... so it was just a really nice gesture.
Later I also found out that she was Jewish... I feel like it's super weird how so many of the foreign teachers at UConn are Jewish.. I had a Spanish professor who was also Jewish... maybe it's a UConn thing?
We took the metro or whatever it is called for the first time tonight, too. It's pretty awesome- we got a card with our picture on it and you can even use it through your wallet like in D.C. Sweet deal. We passed by a stop that said ville juif (jewish village?)... you better believe I'm going to be seeing what that place is all about.
I was bit bummed to find out that they no longer have the budget to take us on trips to brussels, amsterdam, or prague... but hopefully we'll end up going somehow... : /
Also, I ran into a girl who I did the Harvard Summer program with like in junior year of high school! Most random thing ever- she is also living in the same dorm complex! She recognized me like instantly, way impressive on her part... but once she mentioned the summer, I knew who she was, too. Can't believe I'm running into people in PARIS.

Jen: I'm here!!

2010-01-25T05:18:00.000-08:00

So here is a quick update. I just arrived and settled in. The room is pretty spacious, but definitely a little bit falling apart. The building itself is huge and really pretty. Paris also seems really nice so far- it is a beautiful day out and I'm going to explore!

As for the flight, I almost took out someone's eye when the cap from my water bottle like exploded off, probably has something to do with the difference in pressure when we took off? Either way, it was like an explosive... it literally shot backwards.

I went to go log in at the computer lab downstairs, apparently I had to do that in order to access wifi... I had no idea what I was doing so I had to ask 2 French guys to do it for me... yes, I gave them the sheet which had my full name and room number... maybe not entirely smart, but there is a lock on the door anyway and they seemed nice enough :/

Ok, more later... Bon soir!!!!!! : )

oooo also, their keyboards are WEIRD. The w or z is like where the A should be and so on... STRANGE.

Part 2:

So now it's 5:32PM... and we have like nothing planned until 7PM tonight.... I have been wandering around Paris a bit which is cool. I went through the park across the street which was really pretty, then I got lost, and then I wandered until I found my way back. I met the first person who I truly could not communicate with on any level. He was some foreigner who spoke some French... and I couldn't understand anything he was saying... so I kept repeating how I don't speak French really and had no IDEA what he was saying... I think he understood once I finally walked away...
I have also been really thirsty and found two separate soda machine things... the first only took coins and the second could only take up to 2 euros... I have a 5 euro bill... so hopefully by tonight I'll find some fluids. This could also be partially tying back to the wine I had on the plane in order to help me fall asleep... I think I have been parched since then...
This is actually pretty cool, hopefully I don't get sick of the "oh wow this is interesting how I can't understand anything and no one can really understand me" thing. So far it's been cool to be like, oh so thaaaat's what it's like. It may get old, only time will tell. Also, I have been a little intimidated to use even the little French I have picked up... I don't want to sound like I'm stealing their language and butchering it... : /

Jen: Creepy.

2010-01-23T23:15:00.000-08:00

I saw bright lights outside of my window. A cop apparently pulled over a car right in front of our house... they have been there for the past ten minutes.
I am waking up at 6AM to finish packing... or more like empty stuff out of the suitcases so that way they are 50lbs. One is currently at 76 lbs and the other can't really even be zippered yet... this is not good news. I hope I don't overpack things that are unimportant and forget to pack the things that I will actually need. It's amazing how little I can actually bring... I think I have been packing like I pack for UConn, not paying attention to how much I stuff into the suitcases, as long as they eventually zipper up. This method is highly ineffective.
Bed time for me... a whole 4 hours of sleep. I just hope this is all packed up and finished by like 11AM tomorrow...

Jen: 24 hours!

2010-01-23T16:09:00.000-08:00

So first let me start with someone posted on my facebook wall that they like my hat (as seen in the main picture). This might just have made my day.
Also, I have been trying to pack for a while, but really have lost most drive. I HAVE TOO MUCH STUFF! I keep moving things into the 'not taking' pile, only to change my mind and think of a billion reasons why I need that specific turtle-neck shirt. Also, I have realized that I will be in France for multiple seasons. This means I need winter clothes AND summer clothes, and everything in between. I really want to bring my every color tank tops.. and my many color turtle necks... but really I don't know how necessary these are. I also have two brown skirts and probably three black ones... perhaps this isn't necessary!? EFFF it's just that I have to pack casual clothes and business-y stuff for the internship, too! So I figured I'd have one suitcase with all of my clothes and the second with books, shoes, snacks, shower stuff. The first is full, and I STILL have more clothes to pack!
Also, so last night my family got a cake for my birthday and we kind of celebrated. Yes, I am turning 21 in France... this might suck. It won't even be like once I have become buddy-buddy with everyone... it's like a week or two after I really meet them... I realize my 21st birthday might just be lame (February 11th). But I know my friends, they will probably fly down just to spend the day with me. That's right... Persis, Diane, Steph, Regan, Valen, Faseeha, Cassie, Wen... I at LEAST expect you girls to fly down for me! haha : / Maybe I will force those who are abroad in Europe to come visit me at least... or my English friends... or sit in the corner sobbing... anything is possible!
Also... my siblings got me luggage tags... it was like happy birthday, now leave! Haha... yes, one actually did say 'arrivederci' ...as in bye... in Italian. : /

Wen: I haven't posted in so long!

2010-01-22T13:12:00.000-08:00

So, I haven't posted in so long, mainly because I have nothing to post about! My existence at UConn has been quite uneventful except for the random few visits from friends that I get to be excited about.

I was browsing Facebook, like usual, and I came across one of Sam Taylor's posts. It was a website for a law firm called Slaughter and Virgin. Haha, I'm so bored that I reposted this. http://www.slaughtervirgin.com/

I have been watching a lot of Hulu recently due to my advanced boredom, but I'm sad to say that Hulu announced that they will be charging 4$ and something per a month to use their site, starting in the next few months.

Also, I came across an interesting compilation of deleted Family Guy scenes: 10 Great Deleted Scenes from Family Guy

One last thing, I'm sure he doesn't really read this, but... HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALI!

Wen and Jen's list of things we will NOT miss while abroad

2010-01-21T20:15:00.000-08:00

arjona
the smell of cows
lots of studying/homework
lofted beds
ceric
monteith
overeating
super cold weather
parking tickets
the chemistry building
biochemistry
huskymail
unreliable buses

It might be that there is a whollllle lot more that we will miss! : / This is pathetic!

Collectible Frisbee

2010-01-21T15:57:00.000-08:00

In honor of Phil's request. Selling for 983 pennies.

Jen: Leaving the Tefillin at Home

2010-01-21T15:36:00.000-08:00

I have been packing all day. I will be taking all of my kind of on-the-edge clothing with me, because if there is anywhere it will work, it's probably Paris. I have tried to search images of what French people wear, but to no real avail. While packing I have had the TV on in the background. Top 3 amusing things that were on TV today:
1. Plane emergency landed in Philly because of a 17 year old putting on Tefillin
2. Instructions on how to use an Epipen
3. Best way to eat healthy: take 5 breaths and decide not to eat

My room is an absolute mess! I'm not even half done with packing. Tomorrow I have to bring my car in to get repaired :/

Hah, also funny, so apparently I had to call Wachovia in order to tell them that I might be taking out money abroad. I had to list every country I might possibly visit... new goal: to actually visit every one of these places.
I said France, Spain, Germany, Poland, Austria, Netherlands, Italy, Israel, Czech Republic. EFF, I forgot to say England I think. This is officially the master list.

Jen: YES!!!!!!

2010-01-21T06:54:00.000-08:00

My internship advisor responded!!!!!! He asked me to come in this coming week to discuss internship details!!!!!! I was getting so nervous!

Also, we currently have 29 fans on facebook... I am confident that we will meet our goal!

Jen: Looking Past Certain Things

2010-01-20T20:13:00.000-08:00

Wen will understand the title. I am going to ignore the possible bad that might occur and write as if nothing had happened. So I drove back today- and get this- TWO BROKEN GAS STATIONS! I was waiting until I got to NJ to get gas so my tank went pretttty low. I pulled off the highway like right before I was about to hit empty and there was not one, but TWO closed gas stations! They were like 5 miles apart and were the two closest stations! I JUST made it to the third... and then made it home.

My family decided to go to the Sherlock Holmes movie tonight which was pretty good. I felt a bit loserish when I got EXTREMELY excited about how all the 'magical' texts were in Hebrew. I felt like I had cracked the code way before Sherlock.
Also, apparently I will be going over my cousin's house Saturday night... so in reality I only have tomorrow to pack and get anything I might need for the trip.
Also now that Wen found a cool way to link the blog to facebook, we have a new goal of getting 30 fans.. we currently have 10... haha I will probably delete this line in the blog if we fail. Also, I kind of think the snow flakes look like dandruff, but eh. : /

Wen and Jen: The Final Countdown

2010-01-20T08:51:00.000-08:00

Wow! We're in the same place! Jen is sitting across from me, resting on her makeshift bed constructed from Diane and Regan's bedding and let's not forget... their LOVE. Of course, we would be on our respective laptops browsing the internet, because we become skilled at that in the past few semesters. At least this time, we're not IMing each other on GChat while in the same room. Anyway, run down of yesterday's events:
This is exciting!
I was very sad that Jennifer was unable to join us for dinner, but she ended up getting here a few hours later and play CRANIUM!
This last reunion is especially amazing because yesterday's Cranium was incredibly fun :) Sean and I dominated out of 4 teams. I got super competitive and I think Jen and I scared a couple of people. I do remember screaming MULTIPLE times at the top of my lungs at various people.
This morning we ate breakfast and it was delicious. I had an omelet at South, and it was my first one in like a month! I definitely missed it!
After breakfast, we hung out in the room and watched MUZZY in French! http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMTE0NDY4OTg4.html
It's this old school cartoon that's made in many different languages and used to teach children how to speak rudimentary language... therefore, it was PERFECT for us. I found it bootlegged on the Chinese video site. I used to watch it in French class in high school, and I enjoyed it immensely back then too.

Now we're heading out to lunch at Towers. It's gonna be Jen's final Kosher meal at UConn for this semester. Probably mine too. They guys are all going there for pasta bar, but I feel as though it's a little overrated.

After lunch Jen's going to leave :'(

This is our final combined blog, complete meal together and our last chance to synchronize our mind connection before our ties are severed for the next five months.

To the future! <3 Wen and Jen

Jen's departure:
January 24th
7:15pm
JFK
Air France

Wen's departure:
February 2nd
JFK
Cathay Pacific Air

Jen: Last Hoorah @ UConn

2010-01-19T23:03:00.000-08:00

So, I can't say everything really went according to plan today. The dinner that I was so excited about going to with lots of close friends, didn't really happen. Or rather, it happened, but I wasn't there. I was driving from Long Island so I figured that would cut off an hour of my time, at least. In reality, the traffic made up for that and then some. I left at 4:30PM and didn't get to UConn until 8:30PM. The dinner was at around 6:30. It was hours of bumper to bumper traffic. I heard the sames songs on the radio about 5 times over the course of the trip. I kept laughing to myself in the car as I thought about how perhaps Wen's statement was true - how boring and terrible times here will lead to us enjoying our abroad experiences even more!
It was just annoying because I invited some people to come and got myself really excited about it. In the end everything worked out though because people were still hanging out together once I arrived. We actually played some really fun games - cranium and this one about dirty minds. There was lots of laughs, which was really nice. Persis also made an awesome video of all our times together since freshman year... which will be added to the MUST TAKE TO FRANCE pile, along with the video Diane made for Channukah. Gosh, once the photo book comes in I will be absolutely set! Being here today has made me think about how much I will miss everyone, and how it's a real shame that this is a lot of my friends' last semester.
We are planning for lunch together tomorrow, so hopefully that will work out. I will probably have to take off right after that :( ....it's funny to be sleeping on the couch in my old room... but strangely not entirely unfamiliar.

Jen: The Reunion

2010-01-19T07:12:00.000-08:00

I will be going up to UConn today to visit everyone before I leave. I just realized that there is a distinct possibility that Wen and I could actually blog together tonight. I'm not really sure why that was so exciting, but as soon as I realized I felt like I HAD to blog about it. I am really excited for tonight- having dinner with some of the coolest people who I will miss a LOT. The dinner group seems to be growing- I kind of hope we storm the dining hall and take up more than one table- that'd be sweet; look out- we will also have a football player and we ARE not afraid to use him! I still haven't packed for the little trip... but that shouldn't take more than a few minutes. Haha, I'm watching trash TV at the moment- the Maury show. :/

Wen: I'm really bored and where am I?!?!

2010-01-19T07:04:00.000-08:00

So, It's been a real pain in the A to get around UConn. I don't have all my stuff, and I wish that I brought my umbrella, but alas, it is at home on my bookshelf. Also, I got swiped into the dining hall a couple of times by Amir, and each time, I realized that I didn't recognize 99% of the people here! Additionally, they looked extremely young!

What happened?!?

UConn moved on. :(

And the other day, at the Legacy banquet, the 2009 cohort (us) were dismissed and the 2010 cohort was welcomed... it was a sad day.

I guess the good news about me and Jen going abroad is that we're will be starting new friendships and people will be excited to meet us (ummm... relatively). We're going to be the newbies and it will be a rebirth or sorts... hopefully... until we get sick of it.
<3

Jen: Packing List!

2010-01-18T20:21:00.000-08:00

Ok'doke. So here it is, the much dreaded list of things I probably will not be able to fit into 1 to 2 suitcases. haha, I can't wait to compare my list with Wen's.... *prediction* ...her's will be like clean underwear.. and that's like it. No wait, and a toothbrush.

Technology stuff:
1. Laptop + Charger
2. Nook book reader thing + Charger
3. Phone + Charger
4. Camera + Charger
5. Universal adapter/converter thing
6. Ipod? maybe...

Documents:

1. health insurance card

2. passport + visa papers

3. itinerary

Books:

1. MCAT BOOKS

2. president's council bioethics books

3. French-English dictionary

4. photo book if it ever comes in!

5. mini siddur and tanach

Clothes/Accessories:
1. internship - nice pants and shirts
2. shabbat - skirts/dresses... snius things!
3. pajamas
4. workout clothes (hahaha.... just in case)
5. hangout clothes - jeans, sweat sweat shirts...
6. summer stuff
7. going out clothes
8. scarfs!
9. jackets?
10. undergarments/socks/stockings/leggings
11. pocketbooks?
12. a few pairs of shoes/boots
13. one formal-ish cocktail dress?

Toiletry Things:
1. Shower Stuff
2. makeup/perfume/moisturizer
3. tooth brush and tooth paste

Other:
1. wallet!
2. jewelry
3. snacks?

Jen: Too good to be true :/

2010-01-18T19:46:00.000-08:00

So I will probably make another post today with my packing list, but for right now I will talk about my adventure at the verizon store. So even though they will be giving us a phone once we get to France, my parents would feel more comfortable if I also had my own phone that wasn't pay-as-you-go and that had my regular phone number. When I went to Israel, I was able to just switch my phone to international without a problem. Apparently, the snoody French people do not like to be with compatible with things, so the Blackberry Curve cannot be switched to international service for France. The only compatible phones are the Storm and the Tour. This is all back story.

So, My mom and I went to the verizon store because she has some kind of credit and upgrade thing that would make it free to get one of these phones. So the plan was to go in, switch my blackberry curve for a blackberry tour, 1, 2, 3, done. When we get there, this guy tells us that it is actually buy one get one free, and because the credit or whatever it is covers one blackberry tour, we can actually get a second one for free in addition. And also, we can somehow get a netbook for free, too! Okay, so this sounds peachy- two blackberries and a netbook all for no cost- YA RIGHT.

We go to the register and it turns out this guy is completely incompetent. He doesn't know how to ring up the phones or switch the contacts or really do much of anything. The guy next to him at the counter is giving some advice how to do it, as is the girl on the other side and then the manager as well. By the time we were done, just about every employee of the store had some input. After ringing it up about 5 times, taking about an hour, finally it went through. Then, on to the netbook, which was SUPPOSEDLY also free! Turns out it is only free if you buy the 120 dollar per month service to use it abroad!!!!! 120 DOLLARS!!! Ridiculous, so we didn't end up getting that. Two hours later, they are first switching over the contacts and loading up the phones... only one guy there knew what he was doing... he told me I can come back on Thursday and he will personally help me with anything else I might need regarding switching things over on the phone.

Meh, also the barnes and noble nook came in the mail today!!! It's really cute- I can't wait to open it up and try it out! Perhaps I will relearn how to read just for this occasion!!! As Wen says, "no one reads anymore." Well gosh darn it, I'm going to try it out.

Wen: Blogging for Jen

2010-01-18T17:50:00.000-08:00

Jen and I were recently conversing, and we realized that Jen has a unique ability to spit rhymes and beats like a professional rapper. For instance, I made a reference about our mutal friend Dave, and subsequently she popped out this poem:

Dave the brave
Lives in a cave
Doesn't really shave
One of my fave
Let's have a rave
And then we'll wave
What a great save

Some details may seem bold and innapropriate, but we assure you that she is joking.